50 Shades of Planning (Samuel Stafford)
Explore every episode of 50 Shades of Planning
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 2020 | Beauty is in the eye of the freeholder | 00:53:24 | |
‘We want to ensure that we have a system in place that enables the creation of beautiful places that will stand the test of time’ states the 'Planning for the future' White Paper. Not just well-designed places. Beautiful places. The Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, set up to advise government on how to promote and increase the use of high-quality design for new build homes and neighbourhoods, proposed that beautiful placemaking be a legally enshrined aim of the planning system. There is a school of thought promulgating the idea that beauty will help make the public more accepting of new development. As then Secretary of State James Brokenshire wrote in a forward to Policy Exchange’s ‘Building Beautiful Places’ report: ‘to unlock the building of homes at the scale and rate where they are required, we need to overcome public opposition to new development. The promise of beautiful homes and places that add value and character to the area they are built, rather than take away from it, is an essential part of that.’ The public though, when asked about possible advantages that might increase support for more homes being built in their local area, rank higher quality design behind medical facilities, transport links, employment opportunities, affordable housing, green spaces, schools, leisure facilities and shops. Is beauty in the built environment different to good design? Are beautiful, well-designed places and buildings being created because of, or in spite of, the planning system? Can the planning system better enable the creation of beautiful, well-designed places and, if so, how? And would that really overcome perceived public objections to the principle of development? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Jaimie Ferguson, Director at Open (Optimised Environments Ltd); Lisa Mcfarlane, Director and RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect at Seven Architecture; and Paul Smith, Managing Director at The Strategic Land Group. Thanks to Jaimie for the title of this episode. Twitter handles: Sam - @samuel_stafford Jaimie - @jaimieferg Lisa - @lmcfarlane01 Paul - @Paul_SLG Some accompanying reading. Public attitudes to house building: findings from the British Social Attitudes survey 2018. Architects hope to tear down garden fences of England's future homes. Strategic Land Group's Research Paper: Perceptions of the design quality of new build homes in England. https://strategiclandgroup.co.uk/2020/07/17/design-quality-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/ Place Alliance's Housing Design Audit for England. http://placealliance.org.uk/research/national-housing-audit/ Some accompanying viewing. Homer is asked to design a car for the company run by his long-lost brother. | |||
| 01 Oct 2022 | A stimulating growth conversation | 00:49:10 | |
It will not have gone unnoticed that the Government published a 'Growth Plan' on Friday 23 September 2022 with implications for the Development Consent Order regime and the introduction of a new Investment Zone concept. Additional information about Investment Zones was published the following day (links below). Friend of the podcast Simon Ricketts hastily convened one of his 'Planning Law, Unplanned' Clubhouse sessions for the Tuesday evening to which Sam Stafford, along with Iain Thomson, Shelly Rouse, Nicola Gooch and Jonathan Easton, were invited to contribute. This episode then is slightly different from previous ones in that they all kindly agreed to record that conversation so that some of it could be used and shared by Sam for 50 Shades. You will hear then in the next forty five minutes or so some thoughts from that group on what is known and not known about the Growth Plan and what the implications for planning may or may not be. Simon Ricketts (@sricketts1) is a Partner at Town Legal. Iain Thomson (@KingofSurbo) is MD at Bellona Advisors. Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly) is a Principal Consultant at the Planning Advisory Service. Nicola Gooch (not on Twitter) is a Partner at Irwin Mitchell. Jonathan Easton (@jonnye47) is a full-time Barrister at Kings Chambers and a part-time punster. Some accompanying reading. The Growth Plan https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-growth-plan-2022-documents/the-growth-plan-2022-html Additional information about Growth Zones https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investment-zones-in-england Simon's Growth Plan Blog https://simonicity.com/2022/09/23/what-does-the-growth-plan-mean-for-development-and-infrastructure/ Iain's Growth Plan Blog https://www.bellona-advisors.co.uk/reports/growth-plan-analysis/ Nicola's Growth Plan Blog Sam's Growth Plan Blog http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2022/09/in-investment-zone.html Zack Simon's Growth Plan Blog https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/investment-zones Some accompanying listening. Docklands Renewed by Sea Power 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 23 Dec 2023 | 🎅🏻The 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz - London🤶🏻 | 01:04:29 | |
Well Planning Reform Day finally arrived, just in time for the profession to be able to digest a cavalcade of announcements over Christmas, but not in time for the second and third of the festive 50 Shades episodes. The podcast will be covering the new NPPF in due course, but put all of that hullabaloo to one side for now and let Sam Stafford and friends take a second look at another exciting year in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and world of town and country planning. This is the London edition of the 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz, which was recorded at Soho Radio Studios with regular podcast contributors Andrew Taylor, Hashi Mohamed, Catriona Riddell and Simon Ricketts. The gang did not get to talk about the NPPF, which was still only imminent, but did talk about many other topical things, including nutrient neutrality, application fees, and local plan intervention. As was the case last year, and with the recent Manchester edition of the quiz, Sam Stafford is grateful to Richard Garlick and the team at Planning who kindly provided Sam with a selection of their most interesting stories of the year, from which he constructed twelve multiple choice questions for the two teams. Andrew and Hashi were Santas Little Helpers. Catriona and Simon were the Happy Little Elves. As in Manchester, and spoiler alert, they ended up again by complete chance with a tiebreaker and also as in Manchester a very special guest makes an appearance… Some accompanying reading. Oscar Easton is fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support https://www.justgiving.com/page/oscar-easton-1702480570488 The Quiz Questions (£) Question 1 – January Question 2 – February Question 3 – March Question 4 – April Question 5 – May Question 6 – June Question 7 – July Question 8 – August Question 9 – September Question 10 – October Question 11 – November Question 12 – December Some accompanying listening. Sam’s Christmas Crackers - The Ultimate Festive Soundtrack https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Dn44yamtsjrzsYH4rzbld?si=2iPYSpPgSYmeKCl1Sq8Vog&pi=e-8RGf4hGyTmqe | |||
| 22 Jun 2024 | What do we want? | 00:54:29 | |
With a General Election now imminent Sam Stafford thought that it might be interesting to try to compare what is being offered by the main political parties in relation to housing, planning and development with what the housing, planning and development sector would like to see being offered. In a conversation recorded at Outset Studios in Shoreditch Sam speaks to new friends of the podcast Richard Blyth, Tony Mulhall, Marie Chadwick and Ian Fletcher, and old friend of the podcast Paul Brocklehurst, about the policy proposals that their respective organisations are promulgating. Richard is Head of Policy & Practice at the RTPI; Tony is a Senior Specialist at RICS; Marie is Policy Leader at the NHF; Paul is Chair of the LPDF; and Ian is Director of Real Estate Policy at the BPF. Sam invites them all to outline their respective manifestos and then they focused on two key areas that everybody agreed need to be addressed: the need to get more resources into LPAs and the need to reintroduce strategic planning whilst at the same time getting local plans moving again. Towards the end of the episode Sam also asks Marie about the issue of RPs not bidding for S106 sites, which is a very live one at present. Some accompanying reading. Blue belt, grey belt, wild belt – the manifestos compared https://lichfields.uk/blog/2024/june/20/blue-belt-grey-belt-wild-belt-the-manifestos-compared RICS’ Land & Rural Manifesto overview https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-uk-general-election-land-and-rural-manifesto-review The BPF General Election Manifesto https://bpf.org.uk/our-work/general-election-2024/ LPDF’s 10 Point Plan for a Step Change in Delivery https://lpdf.co.uk/latest-lpdf-publications RTPI’s Planifesto https://www.rtpi.org.uk/new/our-campaigns/rtpi-planifesto-2024/ Some accompanying viewing. NHF’s campaign for a Plan for Housing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmM3WLCjcwQ Some accompanying listening. Manifesto by Roxy Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjkVYOArUQM 50 Shades - T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 30 Dec 2023 | 🏆The #Planaraks Awards 2023🏆 | 01:02:01 | |
Hopefully everybody involved in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country has had a restful Christmas and have managed to combine at least a little rest with digesting the cavalcade of announcements on Planning Reform Day. This episode is the third of the festive 50 Shades triumvirate looking back at 2023. The first two did so by way of the 50 Shades Festive Christmas Quizzes. This third episode sees the return of Zack Simons’ Planaraks Awards, which Zack has again kindly agreed to reveal exclusively on the 50 Shades of Planning podcast. In a conversation that Sam Stafford and Zack recorded at Soho Radio Studios on Planning Reform Day itself, just as the Secretary of State had given a speech entitled ‘Falling back in love with the future’ and just before the NPPF emerged, they canter through some of the high points and low points of the year just gone (mostly low points) and Zack confers awards for, amongst other things, the Most Futile Reform of the Year, the Most Hopeless Reform of the Year and the Worst Policy of the Year. Positivity does not abound, but Sam and Zack do try to generate some. Along the way they touch on many of the things that regular readers of Zack’s #Planaraks Blog would expect them to, from amending consents, nutrient neutrality, application fees, the LURA, Green Belt and strategic planning. Some accompanying reading. Oscar Easton is fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support https://www.justgiving.com/page/oscar-easton-1702480570488 🏆 The #Planoraks 2023 - worst planning reform of the year 🏆 https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/-the-planoraks-2023-worst-planning-reform-of-the-year- Thank You Mikael Armstrong: New Case On Scope Of Section 73 https://simonicity.com/2023/01/28/thank-you-mikael-armstrong-new-case-on-scope-of-section-73/ New Draft London Guidance On Affordable Housing/Viability https://simonicity.com/2023/05/06/new-draft-london-guidance-on-affordable-housing-viability/ Making a bad situation worse? The impact of the proposed NPPF changes on housing supply Making a bad situation worse? How a fall in housing supply due to NPPF changes will cause social harm and undermine levelling up Some accompanying listening. Race for the Prize by The Flaming Lips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs56ygZplQA 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 19 Aug 2023 | Hitting the High Notes - Hashi Mohamed | 01:12:58 | |
This episode is another in the Hitting The High Notes series, which is planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with You Tube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. This episode features a conversation that Sam recorded with Hashi Mohamed at Soho Radio Studios in London towards the end of July 2023. Regular listeners will recall that Hashi featured in episode 78, which was the recording of a conversation that he and friend of the podcast Simon Ricketts had had on Clubhouse about Hashi’s book ‘A Home of One’s Own’. Sam's conversation with Hashi also takes in ‘A Home of One’s Own’, as well as Hashi’s other book, ‘People Like Us - What It Takes to Make It in Modern Britain’. In addition to the politics of housing and social mobility, you will also hear Hashi talk about his remarkable arrival in this country and a career in the law that has seen him become one of Planning Magazine’s top-rated junior barristers. His ‘Three A’s’ are top tips for any professional and listen out too for the best planning inquiry tale you will hear bar nun. Sam also marks this 100th episode with some extended bonus waffle at the end, which was recorded whilst he was sunning himself in southern Spain. Hashi’s song selections Unforgettable - Nat King Cole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFyuOEovTOE You’ll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & The Pacemakers Shaking of the Sheets – Steeleye Span https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16WqxSMCu0 Changes - Tupac Still D.R.E - Dr Dre A change is gonna come – Sam Cooke Hashi’s Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LIyBa2ifAY9EClQMdvrom?si=a8d8417838c3488e Some accompanying listening. Analysis: Housing, Planning and Politics https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014ptp Analysis: Adventures in Social Mobility https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04zrkxv?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile Gettin’ In The Way – Cooper T Some accompanying reading. Raising the bar: Hashi Mohamed’s journey from child refugee to top lawyer https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/12/hashi-mohamed-child-refugee-barrister-people-like-us Hashi’s books https://www.hashimohamed.com/the-book The housing theory of everything by Sam Bowman, John Myers and Ben Southwood https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 28 Mar 2020 | Planning & Coronavirus | 01:16:28 | |
Robert Jenrick set out on 12 March 2020 proposals “to bring Britain’s planning system into the 21st century as part of plans to get the country building”. Within a week it was announced that schools were closing and local authority staff, including planning officers, have been dealing with a public health emergency. Sam Stafford is joined in this episode by Jonathan Easton, Barrister at Kings Chambers; Anna Rose, Head of the Planning Advisory Service at the Local Government Association; and Stefan Webb, Place Director at FutureGov to discuss the impact of Coronavirus on the planning system. Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford, @jonnye47, @EPlanna and @Stef_W. Some links: Planning Inspectorate Guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-planning-inspectorate-guidance ADSO and LLG letter to MHCLG on decision-making and democracy: https://www.adso.co.uk/letter-to-sos-covid-19-implications-for-local-authority-governance/ Greater Flexibility For Planning Permissions: The Landmark Chambers paper: https://cached.offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/NewsAttachments/RLP/LandmarkSOSletter.pdf Simon Ricketts’ Blog: https://simonicity.com/2020/03/21/what-to-do/ The Planning Advisory Service’s resource: https://local.gov.uk/pas/pas-topics/coronavirus The RTPI survey to inform discussions with Governments across the UK and Ireland: | |||
| 30 Sep 2020 | The High Street is dead, long live the High Street | 01:10:09 | |
‘Vital and Viable’, the good practice guidance that accompanied the old PPG6 included a large survey of planning authorities. A fifth of town centres in 1995, it was reported, were then thought to be ‘declining’, while only a few metropolitan cities and historic towns thought of themselves as ‘vibrant’. What would the results of such a survey be now? Oasis, Warehouse, Debenhams and Cath Kidston have filed for administration and between M&S, John Lewis, Boots and WH Smith 14,000 jobs could be at risk. According to the ONS, online sales in March were up 13% year-on-year, including a substantial 52% growth in sales of household goods. ONS data up to 26 July showed that footfall in UK High Streets, retail parks and shopping centres was 60% of what it was a year previously. On the one hand, with just one in six workers back in the office and two-thirds of chief executives predicting a move to low density office usage, the prospects for city centre sandwich shops and bars that rely on lunchtime and after work trade look bleak. On the other hand the prospects for independent businesses in the towns and villages where former commuters might be spending their money look rosier. Can the High Street be saved? Should the High Street be saved? What, indeed, do we even mean by the High Street? What role does the planning system have in answering these questions? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Iain Jenkinson, Rebecca Trevalyan and Bill Grimsey. Iain (@iain_jenkinson) is a Senior Director at CBRE and has spent twenty years advising private and public sector clients on city and town centre regeneration projects. Rebecca (@RTrevalyan) is a co-founder of social enterprise Library of Things and an advocate for community-powered neighbourhoods. Rebecca co-authored the Grimsey Review Covid-19 Supplement Report: ‘Build Back Better’. Bill (@BillGrimsey) is known for his leadership at Wickes, Iceland and Focus, and is arguably the most high-profile advocate for our High Streets, publishing reports in 2013 and 2018, as well as the recent Covid-19 update mentioned above. Some accompanying reading. The Grimsey Review Covid-19 Supplement Report: ‘Build Back Better’. 'Life after Coronavirus: A new high street is waiting — if we’re brave enough to reimagine access to property' by Rebecca. 'The future of high streets and how we can all play a part' by Chris Sands. https://totallylocally.org/stuff/blog/the-future-of-high-streets-how-we-can-all-play-a-part/ 'A different way to save the high street' by Josh Lowe. https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/high-street-shops-community-marks-and-spencer Rebecca's Twitter Mega-Thread on alternative uses. https://twitter.com/rtrevalyan/status/1270662358600425472?s=21 Participatory City. http://www.participatorycity.org/about Some accompanying listening. 'Shopping' by the Pet Shop Boys. | |||
| 28 Aug 2021 | Our Friends in the North - Part 1 | 00:50:53 | |
For both this episode and the next one Sam Stafford hands over the 50 Shades reins to Stephen Gleave. Stephen is an urban designer and town planner and has been based in the north west of England for nearly 30 years. Stephen was invited to guest edit the Summer 2021 edition of the Urban Design Group’s quarterly journal and Sam has lent the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast as a platform for Stephen to share some of the material that he curated. Stephen set out to explore urban design in the north, the 'Northern Powerhouse' and what 'levelling up' might mean for placemaking. What are the current active urban designers “up to” across the north? What influence are they having, what are they achieving and what challenges are they facing? Stephen sought input from a range of academics, consultants and practitioners in both public and private sectors and some of the contributors have kindly taken the time to read their essays for these two 50 Shades episodes. Part 1 features David Roberts at Igloo (@david_igloo) talking about Riverside Sunderland; Vicky Payne at URBED (@Victoria_Payne) talking about an equitable approach to housing design quality; and Jaimie Ferguson at OPEN (@jaimieferg) talking about designing for prosperity (again...). Information on how to join the Urban Design Group and how to get hold of a copy of the Summer 2021 edition of the journal can be found here. https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/journal/urban-design-159-summer-2021 Some of this contributors to this episode have come together to form Common Good, a non-profit group of practitioners acting in their own time to encourage discussions around sustainable places and good design in the North. Follow @CommonGood_ on Twitter. Some accompanying watching. Our Friends in the North on Britbox https://www.britbox.co.uk/programme/Our_Friends_in_the_North_46176 Some accompanying listening. Hit The North by Frank Sidebottom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0elCZT8yN0 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 21 Oct 2023 | Planning is Brilliant | 00:47:24 | |
A few months ago old friend of the podcast Rebecca Coley, Head of Planning & Development at Trafford Council, messaged Sam Stafford suggesting a 50 Shades episode on “the hidden work of LPAs that slows everything down, e.g. political pressure to investigate particular enforcement cases, the endless complaints that are actually neighbour disputes, FOI, all that kind of stuff". Sam thought that a good idea so they put together a group of senior planners to explore these issues further. That group included two other old friends of the podcast, Mike Kiely and Gilan Macinnes, and two new friends of the podcast, Simon Thomas and Dean Hermitage. Mike is Chair of the Planning Officers Society; Gilian is a consultant working for the Planning Advisory Service and takes on interim management roles within LPAs; Simon is Head of Planning at Canterbury; and Dean is Director of Planning at Uttlesford. They recorded a conversation online towards the end of September 2023 that does take in all of the hidden work that slows everything down, including complaints, FOI, and Environmental Information Regulations. They talk about the other less positive aspects of taking on a senior role, such as tackling online abuse and misinformation, as well as saving money and the likelihood of increased planning application fees being used to improve planning services. They also though talk about the more positive aspects of taking on senior roles such as the ability to shape major schemes, shape the future of places, and, when at the top table, shape wider local authority priorities. Some accompanying reading. Why we need Chief Planners at the top table in local authorities Freedom of information and Environmental Information Regulations Technical consultation: Stronger performance of local planning authorities supported through an increase in planning fees: government response Some accompanying listening. Masterplan by My Morning Jacket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-MRRr7MyXk 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 14 Jan 2023 | More homes. Better places. So far as possible. | 01:06:41 | |
It will not have escaped the attention of regular 50 Shades listeners that a consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was launched shortly before Christmas and, knowing that it was coming, friend of the podcast Simon Ricketts arranged one his 'Planning Law Unplanned' Clubhouse sessions for the first week back. Simon kindly agreed to record the discussion so that Sam Stafford could share it by of the 50 Shades platform. Listeners will hear in this episode an excellent dissection of the motivations behind, key provisions within, and likely impact of, the proposed changes to the NPPF by a stellar line-up of planning professionals. The discussion includes contributions David Diggle, Rebecca Coley, Annie Gingell, Vicky Payne, Catriona Riddell, Zack Simons, Nicky Linihan, Greg Dickson, Hana Loftus and Steve Quartermain. Some accompanying reading. Levelling-up & Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy Zack’s NPPF Blog https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/notes-on-reform-whats-the-nppf-for Sam’s NPPF Blog http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/01/national-planning-policy-fudge.html Catriona’s column in Planning Magazine (£) Some accompanying listening. Planning Magazine’s Room 106 Podcast on the NPPF that features Catriona The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEzRKQLkds 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 13 Dec 2022 | Call for evidence - Life on the Front Line II | 00:03:44 | |
It was about a year ago that Catriona Riddell first wrote in Planning magazine about low morale in local planning authorities, which Catriona, Peter Geraghty, Paul Brocklehurst and Sam Stafford followed up with the 'Life on the Front Line' episode (no. 60). 'Life on the Front Line' was informed by a 'Call for Evidence', the submissions to which, mostly anonymised, are reproduced on Sam's 50 Shades blog (link below). Catriona has again used her Planning magazine column to raise the issue of morale in LPAs, making the point that, one year on, it does not feel like things have improved much. Many of the factors impacting on morale have been well documented, Catriona writes, but whilst there seems to be some general agreement around the causes, little has been offered in the way of solutions. As Catriona writes, too many authorities are actively discouraging a return to the office, which is not healthy; not conducive to team working; and is unlikely to support the accessibility that planning departments need to offer as a public service. Further, this continuing prioritisation of virtual working affords limited access to both formal training and mentoring, and informal development opportunities for younger, less experienced planners Sam would like to revisit Life on the Front Line for another 50 Shades episode that explores in more detail whether and how things have changed over the last year or so. This then is another Call for Evidence, which is open to planners across all sectors and not just those in local government. If anybody would like to send Sam their thoughts on the issues raised by Catriona, or indeed any other issues that are impacting on your ability to do your job, do please drop him a line to samstafford@hotmail.com and he will add them to the Life on the Front Line Blog, anonymously if preferred. The invitation last year was mostly taken up by junior officers and so Sam would be especially keen to hear this time from more senior officers and service leaders. What is it like managing people and budgets in the current climate? What are the obstacles to getting people back in the office and how can they be overcome? How has the 'top-down targets' farrago affected relationships with members? All planners are invited to share this invitation across their professional networks. Some accompanying reading. The Life on the Front Line Blog http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/12/life-on-front-line.html Council planning chiefs must show purpose to keep isolated junior staff on board, by Catriona Riddell | |||
| 16 Oct 2021 | Doing someone's bidding | 00:55:06 | |
"We appreciate that these funds bring challenges to local councils and we want to ensure there are fewer competitions in the future and more consolidated opportunities to access government funding." So said former Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick to the Local Government Conference in July 2021. As 'No Place Left Behind' report from the Create Streets Foundation has noted, “despite the extreme pressures of the pandemic, the government has increasingly made funding available to kick start levelling up, with a strong focus on community and place.” There are:
The funding itself is clearly welcome, but Mr Jenrick was perhaps responding to criticism that all look set to be allocated competitively at Whitehall’s discretion and the National Audit Office did have something to say in 2020 about the discretion being exercised in the distribution of the Towns Fund. What is the difference between success and failure when bidding for these funds? How hard is it in practice to realise a vision for a place, no matter how compelling and coherent, when implementation relies on a disparate and seemingly ever-evolving funding regime? Surely there is a better way, but what? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Ros Flowers, Economic Growth Senior Manager at Brent Council; Andy Rumfitt, Senior Director at Turley (@AndyRumfitt); and Jaimie Ferguson, Director at Open (@jaimieferg). Some accompanying reading. 'No Place Left Behind', the report of the Commission into Prosperity and Community Placemaking established by the Create Streets Foundation https://www.createstreetsfoundation.org.uk/no-place-left-behind/ 'Inquiry raises concerns over how £3.6bn towns fund was distributed' - The Guardian 'Want to ‘level up’ the UK? Just give places the power and money they need' - The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/19/level-up-uk-regions-local-authority-funding 'Fundamental shift in funding to local level needed to help level up English towns' - The National Infrastructure Commission 'How Labour can rebuild the Red Wall across the North' - Labour for the North 'Unlocking the potential of places' - Future Place Some accompanying listening. You never give me your money - The Beatles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpndGZ71yww 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 09 Jun 2020 | APC, easy as 123 | 00:53:58 | |
Sam Stafford, wary halfway through his career of becoming a world-weary, cynical member of the town planning establishment, seeks to recapture some of his zest by chatting in this episode to three newly and soon-to-be qualified planners about the first few years of their careers. Charles Jones works for Pegasus in Bath, Cathy O’Toole works for Pegasus in Birmingham and Tillie Baker works for Arup in Manchester. Sam's conversation with them takes in their experiences at university and the transition from there into the world of work. Cathy and Tillie were commended by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) for their Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) submissions in 2019 and this episode may be of particular interest to anybody currently pursuing the Associate and Licentiate routes to RTPI membership (https://www.rtpi.org.uk/membership/assessment-of-professional-competence/). | |||
| 12 Oct 2024 | 100 Days of Labour | 01:04:33 | |
Saturday 12 October 2024 marks 100 days of the new Labour Government. In anticipation of this milestone Landmark Chambers and Town Legal hosted a seminar in London this week to provide an in-depth review of Labour's first 100 days in power and the impact on planning law and policy. The session was recorded so that Sam Stafford could share it by way of the 50 Shades podcast and planners will be glad that it was recorded because it contains analysis and insight of the highest order. This episode includes:
Some accompanying reading. Some accompanying listening. All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvLGOE-_Qk 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 07 Oct 2023 | A conversation with Ben Everitt | 00:50:30 | |
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Housing Market & Housing Delivery is a cross-party group of MPs and Peers dedicated to improving the UK housing market. It has published a report called ‘Hacking housing: nine supply side hacks to fix our housing system error’ (link below) and the recommendations include changing the narrative around new development; a ‘grown-up conversation’ about Green Belt and incentivising LPAs to plan positively. Most eye-catching though are these recommendations. "Making planning sexy
The Housing Market & Housing Delivery APPG is chaired by Ben Everitt who kindly gave up some of his time back in June this year to record a conversation with Sam Stafford. Their conversation takes in many of the themes that underpin the report, as well as the role and standing of the planning profession, how Ben got into politics and Sam's old geography teacher… Some accompanying reading. ‘Hacking housing: nine supply side hacks to fix our housing system error’ https://www.appghousing.org.uk/ Sam’s Green Belt blog https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-green-belt-what-it-is-why-it-is.html Some accompanying listening. The Only Fools & Horses closing theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxOEhc960Bc Some accompanying viewing Jerry Springer’s Final Thought on British politics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-90FGJFrW1U 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 23 Jul 2022 | A gentle conversation about density | 00:59:16 | |
Where should we build 300,000 new homes every year? We could build tall buildings, which can have transformative effects on city centres and their skylines, but might not necessarily match delivery with need. Or we could build urban extensions and new settlements, which could be imbued from the outset with the highest possible design and build standards, but are very difficult to deliver. Or we could densify, gently, existing suburbs. We could incentivise LPAs, residents and SME builders to upgrade older, less energy-efficient housing stock, especially in those parts of the cities with the greatest potential to reduce car dependency. This too though is a challenge. Centre for Cities found that over a fifth of neighbourhoods outside city centres have built no new houses since 2011, while half have built, on average, less than one home each year. Why are our suburbs the way they are? What are the barriers to densification and how might they be overcome? Sam Stafford puts these question to Samuel Hughes, Hana Loftus and Ben Woolnough Samuel (@scp_hughes) is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and a Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and Create Streets. Hana Loftus (@hanaloftus), is a Director at HAT Projects and an Associate at Public Practice. Ben (@benhoward_w) is Planning Manager at East Suffolk Council. Some accompanying reading ‘What have been the impacts of the introduction of the standard methodology for calculating housing need on planning for housing?’ A report for Barratt Developments by the University of Liverpool ‘New settlements in local plans: Not everything in the garden is rosy’ by Matthew Spry at Lichfields ‘Sleepy suburbs. The role of the suburbs in solving the housing crisis’ by Anthony Breach and Elena Magrini at Centre for Cities. https://www.centreforcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Sleepy-Suburbs.pdf ‘Intensification and how to achieve it’ by Hana http://virtualhana.blogspot.com/2022/04/intensification-and-how-to-achieve-it.html ‘Street Votes - what's the big idea?’ by Hana http://virtualhana.blogspot.com/2022/04/intensification-and-how-to-achieve-it.html ‘Strong Suburbs’ by Samuel and Ben Southwood for Policy Exchange https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/strong-suburbs/ ‘Learning from History’ by Ben Southwood for Create Streets https://www.createstreets.com/projects/learning-from-history-december-29th/ ‘New Suburbia: What is a suburb?’ by Simon Cooke https://theviewfromcullingworth.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-suburbia-1-what-is-suburb.html Supurbia by HTA Design https://www.hta.co.uk/project/supurbia The Croydon Suburban Design Guide https://suburbandesign.croydon.gov.uk/ ‘Mayor Perry delivers on planning promise to protect Croydon’s local character by removing planning design guide’ Some accompanying listening Skirmish in the Suburbs by Snapped Ankles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s714eMCbdX4 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 27 Dec 2020 | Reflections on 2020 - Part 2 | 00:44:54 | |
Is it right that old times be forgotten, asks Robert Burns in the opening line of Auld Lang Syne. Instinctively one might want to say yes to that insofar as 2020 is concerned. Much has been lost, but it’s also right to say that much has been gained too. We are at home more, a trend that might have happened at a much slower pace if at all in some places, and we are perhaps working more patiently and emphatically with each other, which is a trend that probably would not have happened at all. It has made us appreciate more the old times before 2020. The simple joy of just being with people, which we have learnt not to take for granted again. We can also take heart from the simple fact that, having faced down the challenges that this year has presented, we can be a little less fearful of whatever else is around the corner. You will have spotted, all being well, the ‘Part 2’ in the title of this episode and so have already listened to Part 1, but if not, and it is by no means mandatory to have done so, this is the second of two episodes that feature reflections on an extraordinary year from past contributors to the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast. Sam Stafford's only editorial stipulation was that recordings were about five minutes in length. Whatever people wanted to talk about was completely up to them. You will hear in this episode erudite and insightful observations from:
Lisa (@lmcfarlane01) is a Director and RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect at Seven Architecture and featured on Episode 31. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-mcfarlane-ba-hons-barch-msc-che-riba-sca-ihbc-3ab5412 David (@Davidurbedcoop1) is a Director at URBED and featured on Episode 12. https://www.linkedin.com/in/djrudlin Greg (@GregDickson1) is a Director at Barton Willmore and a regular contributor to the podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-dickson-4762263a Andrew (@AndrewJTaylor3) is Group Planning Director at Countryside and featured on Episode 17. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-taylor-frtpi-42555131 Stanzie is a Barrister at Kings Chambers (@KCPlanningTeam) and featured on Episode 32. https://www.linkedin.com/in/constanze-stanzie-bell Claire (@PetriccaRiding) is a Partner and National Head of Planning and Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell and featured on Episode 25. https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairepetriccariding Vanessa is a Partner at i-Transport and featured on Episode 23. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-eggleston-6132131b0 Mark (@MarkA_Parkinson) is Chief Executive Officer at Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and featured on Episode 9. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-parkinson-972816b3 Some accompanying reading. The blog Sam wrote whilst on furlough leave in April. http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2020/04/memories-of-200809-career-advice-for-my.html | |||
| 20 Jan 2024 | NPPF 2023 Update - What Next? | 00:57:47 | |
At the kind invitation of Landmark Chambers and Town Legal, Sam Stafford was in London this week to contribute to a seminar on the NPPF update, which, eagle-eyed 50 Shades Listeners no doubt spotted, emerged as part of a cavalcade of Planning Reform Day announcements before Christmas. The seminar was over-subscribed and so was recorded in order that it could be shared more widely as a podcast. This episode features:
Some accompanying reading. Reforms to national planning policy https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7281/reforms-to-national-planning-policy/ Reforms to national planning policy report: government response Changes to 5YHLS under the revised NPPF: Not Great, Not Terrible Four out of Five https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/four-out-five-josef-cannon-ugqje/ Local Plan Preparation: Barriers and Opportunities https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy-and-research/research/local-plan-research-project/ Planning working paper https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-working-paper Labour’s planning proposals https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/10/labours-planning-proposals.html Labour pledges to tighten right-to-buy as part of UK housing overhaul https://www.ft.com/content/2726620e-b6e5-4547-b358-ff4fe175171e The Long-Term Plan for Housing II https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-long-term-plan-for-housing-ii.html Some accompanying viewing. Hashi’s appearance on Question Time https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vfv6 Curb Your Enthusiasm, Happy New Years https://youtu.be/U4rkzyGFFo0?si=2gCA8461BCnsqT7H Some accompanying listening. Future Love by Ride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cN0vWnVaHU 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 11 Dec 2021 | Call for evidence - Life on the Front Line | 00:03:39 | |
"Are you planning a 50 Shades on the local authority staffing crisis?" Sam Stafford usually likes it when people get in touch with him to suggest topics for 50 Shades episodes, but found this message from a team leader at a local authority striking and sobering. In a subsequent conversation this person confided in Sam that their team is virtually in crisis mode. It is probably fair to say that the planning system is in crisis, but then it is also probably fair to say that the planning system is always in crisis… There is, of course, the issue of resources. Whilst according to a Planning magazine survey slightly more LPAs are predicting growth in planning department budgets (25%) rather than a contraction (22%), this has to be seen in the context of a 38% real-terms fall in net current expenditure on planning functions between 2010–11 and 2017–18. Beyond resources though the current crisis feels more like an existential crisis of confidence. Catriona Riddell has written in Planning Magazine about low morale in local planning authorities, citing hostility towards planners and the planning system from what can feel like every quarter. That low morale is manifesting itself in the ability of LPAs to attract and retain staff. “The biggest headaches surround securing the services of more experienced planners with 10 to 15 years under their belt”, said one head of service to Planning magazine. “There is only so long that vacancies can remain unfilled without a severe knock-on consequences for the delivery of services”. This then is a 'Call for Evidence' to inform an episode that Sam is planning on the local authority staffing crisis with Catriona Riddell, Peter Geraghty and Paul Brocklehurst. What is life actually like on the front line? Are you a junior officer sat at home physically and operationally distant from your line manager, drowning in files that you have absolutely no chance of dealing with on your own? Are you a planning consultant being pushed by your client to get a scheme to committee being told by a senior officer that they’re already writing one report this month and couldn’t possible write two? Are you a Head of Service desperately trying to find somebody, anybody to help wade through tens of thousands of objections to your local plan consultation? Do you know people that have left the profession altogether? You might be considering that too? What would make you reconsider? If you have any thoughts that you would like to share, either anonymously or publicly, please email Sam, if you can before the end of December, at samstafford@hotmail.com. All responses will be posted on the 50 Shades blog. How widespread is the local authority staffing crisis and what can be done about it? Some accompanying reading. Planning Magazine's Town Hall Resources Survey Catriona's Planning Magazine piece on LPA morale 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 18 Mar 2023 | A conversation with Bethany Cullen | 00:39:24 | |
When Karolina Grebowiec-Hall contacted Sam Stafford about sharing her podcast with his LinkedIn network Sam went a step further and invited Karolina to share it by way of the 50 Shades platform. Karolina has created a website called Pinch Yourself You’re A Planner. As she says on it, "I’m discomforted when the conversation about planning and planners reinforces the negatives and misguides how we see ourselves. Planners are a passionate bunch. We need opportunities to take back the conversation, define by ourselves who we are and reclaim the joy of what we do." Karolina’s hope for PYYAP.com is that it will "take shape through blog posts and regular interviews with professionals, pooling shared learning and soliciting contributions from planners who are keen to call out people who inspire them." In Karolina's most recent conversation, which Sam is sharing here, she talks to Bethany Cullen, Head of Development Management at Camden, about life in DM, which, as Bethany says, is often mis-characterised as a reactive regulatory box-ticking exercise rather than something positive and creative. 50 Shades of Planning is the podcast by planners and for planners so if you would like to use it as a platform for anything you are doing or if you have any ideas for episodes that celebrates what planning is and why planners do it then do please feel free to get in touch with Sam at samstafford@hotmail.com. Some accompanying reading. Public Practice https://www.publicpractice.org.uk/ The regeneration of Kings Cross https://www.kingscross.co.uk/about-the-development Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Children's Cancer Centre The UK Dementia Research Centre’s new research centre https://ukdri.ac.uk/news-and-events/a-leap-forwards-for-the-future-home-of-uk-dri-at-ucl Some accompanying listening. Let's Push Things Forward by The Streets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UGtlUMMkOU 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 30 Mar 2022 | Call for evidence - Three Things | 00:03:24 | |
Sam Stafford's Twitter friends might have spotted that he had dinner with a DLUHC Minister last week. The conversation during dessert turned, with a set piece Planning Bill now off the agenda, to the three most impactful things that Michael Gove could do to improve the planning system. Sam subsequently shared his thoughts on Twitter and they provoked a bit of a discussion, which he thought worthy of exploring further in a 50 Shades episode. This then is a Call for Evidence. Sam would like to know the three most impactful things that 50 Shades Listeners think Michael Gove could do to improve the planning system. Let's not talk in general terms about things like, for example, LPA resources or in radical terms about things like, for example, 'Growth, Renewal and Protection Areas'. Let's not "level the foundations and build, from the ground up, a whole new planning system for England". Let's talk in practical, pragmatic terms about the relatively modest changes that, with little fuss and fanfare, and certainly no requirement for legislation, could have a positive, meaningful impact on what it is that Planners are trying to achieve. Sam's plan is to review your submissions with some of the regular 50 Shades crew and then he will piece everything together for onward transmission to Mr Gove. If you are interested in being involved please send your contributions to samstafford@hotmail.com before the end of April. Some accompanying reading. Sam's Three Things http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2022/03/three-things.html Some accompanying listening. Three is a Magic Number by Bob Dorough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDbeVB4admk 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 13 May 2023 | Licensed to Il | 01:13:24 | |
Think back for a moment to August 2020, to the ‘Planning for the future’ white paper, and to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire for “radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the Second World War. Not more fiddling around the edges, not simply painting over the damp patches, but levelling the foundations and building, from the ground up, a whole new planning system for England.” Alongside proposals for “growth, renewal and protection areas” and a new nationally-determined, binding housing requirement that LPAs would have to deliver through their local plans, the white paper proposed to replace the “uncertain and opaque” methods by which developer contributions are sought with a “non-negotiable, nationally set, value-based, flat-rate charge equal to a fixed proportion of the development’s value, above a yet-to-be-determined threshold, that would be levied on the scheme's completion.” This new infrastructure levy would “deliver more of the infrastructure existing and new communities require whilst maintaining at least as much affordable housing by capturing a greater share of the uplift in land value that comes with development”. Further details of the now locally-determined Infrastructure Levy emerged in May last year alongside the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill, which will provide the legislative basis for it. Then, on 17 March this year a consultation was launched seeking views on technical aspects of the design of the Infrastructure Levy. Friend of the podcast, Simon Ricketts, convened one of his Planning Law Unplanned Clubhouse sessions on 19 April to discuss the Infrastructure Levy with a stellar panel that included Clare Fielding, Sasha Gordon, Sam Bensted and Anthony Lee. They have all kindly agreed to let Sam Stafford share a recording of their discussion for this episode. In the Clubhouse room that day and from whom you will also hear contributions were Nicola Gooch and Gilian MacInnes. The discussion takes in rate-setting, thresholds, buffers, the examination of Infrastructure Delivery Strategies and the impact on the delivery affordable housing. Some accompanying reading. Technical consultation on the Infrastructure Levy https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/technical-consultation-on-the-infrastructure-levy Land Value Capture (the Select Committee report) https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/766/766.pdf How far can land value capture be pushed? (The Savills report) https://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/229130/267514-0 Joint letter to the Secretary of State on the proposed Infrastructure Levy (from the NHF) Council's planning service has no way of tracking developer contributions worth millions of pounds, report finds https://www.northantslive.news/news/northamptonshire-news/councils-planning-service-no-way-8323143 Community Infrastructure Levy review: report to government https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-infrastructure-levy-review-report-to-government Some accompanying listening. Fight For Your Right by the Beastie Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6-lDqGZJ_0 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html 50 Shades Artwork. The image of the Piece Hall is used with the kind permission Ellis Robinson (I: @ellisjrobinson) and has been turned into the 50 Shades logo by friend of the podcast Vicky Payne (I: @_.vicky_payne._). | |||
| 04 May 2024 | Grey Belt | 00:47:21 | |
Sam Stafford was in London recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Catriona Riddell, Shelly Rouse and Nicola Gooch at Soho Radio Studios. One topic, the hot topic of the past few weeks, dominated the conversation. “Labour pledges housebuilding drive on Grey Belt with ‘golden rules’ to boost public services, affordable homes and improve green spaces”, so announced a press release dated 19 April. Keir Starmer has today set out five ‘golden rules’ for Grey Belt housebuilding, pledging to deliver affordable homes, boost infrastructure and public services like schools and GPs, and improve genuine green spaces. While reiterating that Labour will always take a 'brownfield first' approach to housing development, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner are also pledging to release some land currently classed as Green Belt to build the homes Britain needs.” On a visit to a housing development today, the pair will outline Labour’s plans to create a new class of 'Grey Belt' land to ensure grey and poor-quality parts of the Green Belt are prioritised, and that any development benefits local communities. Plenty in there then for the gang to get their teeth in to. They discussed the practical issues associated with creating a new class of designation and how that might rub up against, for example, mandatory BNG. They also talked about how Grey Belt might interact with a mechanism for cross- boundary strategic planning, which Matthew Pennycook has said that Labour will introduce to overcome housing delivery challenges around towns and cities with tightly drawn administrative boundaries. All of that, as you will hear, led them on to local plan reform and what the next version of the NPPF looks like, as well as a remarkable statistic from Shelly on how much a local plan costs to prepare. Some accompanying reading. Labour’s planning proposals http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/04/labours-planning-proposals.html The 80-year planning war over a Surrey airfield (£) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-80-year-planning-war-over-a-surrey-airfield-lvjb3svr7 Some accompanying viewing. What is Grey Belt land and why does Keir Starmer want to build on it? https://youtu.be/4OvsXqdpy4s?si=S6mfS_uL-R15v-3b Some accompanying listening. Darkness on the edge of town – Bruce Springsteen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8HXvt-v5v0 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 08 Nov 2019 | How to plan strategically without strategic planning | 00:55:19 | |
10 January 2020, as planners working in the West Midlands will know, is the date by which the 37,900 home shortfall identified in the Birmingham Development Plan needs to have been accommodated by the other local planning authorities in the Greater Birmingham Housing Market Area. In this episode Sam Stafford chats with Mike Best (Senior Director at Turley (@bestlaidplan)), Mark Parkinson (Economic Development & Planning Policy Manager at Staffordshire County Council (@MarkA_Parkinson)), and Craig Jordan (Head of Economic Growth & Development at Lichfield District Council) about the progress that has been made towards meeting this deadline. The shortfall issue, as Sam and his guests explore during the discussion, brings into sharp focus the difficulties that policy planners have planning for greater-than-local issues without a statutory basis to do so. Sam and Mike's previous blogs on the shortfall can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2018/08/devolution-birmingham-shortfall-4.html https://mikesbestlaidplans.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/nobody-said-it-was-easy/ | |||
| 23 Sep 2023 | One Staircase or Two? | 00:47:34 | |
If you are involved in the delivery of tall buildings, especially in London, where Sadiq Khan has blamed Government dithering for delaying 34,000 homes on major development sites, then the second staircase issue will already be on your radar. By way of background, the Government consulted on Approved Document B of the Building Regulations between 23 December 2022 and 17 March 2023. The consultation document stated that: “30 metres is an accepted threshold for increased safety measures such as increased fire resistance provisions and marks a recognised trigger representing an increase in the level of risks in buildings overall. We therefore propose to introduce a new trigger in Approved Document B making provisions such that new residential buildings more than 30 metres are provided with a second staircase.” Then, on 14 February 2023, the Mayor of London mandated that all residential buildings over 30 metres must have two staircases. Then, ahead of the response to the consultation on Approved Document B, Michael Gove announced in his “Long-term plan for housing” speech on 24 July 2023 the Government’s intention to mandate second staircases in new residential buildings above 18 metres in height, not the 30 metre threshold that had been consulted on. Mr Gove promised in his speech that there would be “transitional arrangements in place to make sure that there is no disruption to housing supply”, but, to date, none have emerged and, as Anna Clarke at The Housing Forum has said: The lack of technical specifications means that those designing or constructing tall buildings don’t have clear instruction on exactly what they need to do. They are also unable to make sensible evidence-based decisions on risk for themselves, because they are not clear on the core purpose of the two staircases. To learn more about the second staircases Sam Stafford recently went to a Planning Futures breakfast seminar that was held at Central Hall in Westminster. So that Sam could help 50 Shades listeners learn more about this issue Hannah David and Cian Bryan at Planning Futures kindly arranged for the session to be recorded. On the panel that day and who share their insights in this episode are:
Some accompanying reading. Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Hackitt review Letter from the Housing Forum to the Secretary of State Sadiq Khan accuses Government of ‘dither and delay’ over fire safety rules HSE’s planning and fire safety guidance https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-and-fire-safety Some accompanying listening. Guidance by Thievery Corporation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLEChpC9L3k 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 01 Jul 2023 | The Power of Plans - Dublin | 00:53:59 | |
This episode is part of an international triumvirate, which has been put together with the help of old friend of the podcast, Ian Wray, and new friend of the podcast, Lucy Natarajan. Ian, regular listeners will know, is a Professor at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at University of Liverpool. Lucy is one of the editors of the Built Environment journal, a co-founder of Place Alliance, an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes and an Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning. Ian and Lucy compiled the December 2022 edition of Built Environment and sought in so doing to explore ‘the power of plans’. This, they endeavoured to do, by way of a series of internationally commissioned case studies on grand plans that have been shown to work, asking how they worked and why. In this series Sam Stafford explores with Lucy and Ian three of those case studies. In this episode, in a conversation recorded remotely at the end of November 2022, Sam and Lucy to Jim Steer about Dublin, to which, by common consensus, town planning in the 1960s and 1970s was not kind, with large-scale road building to serve car-dependent suburbs and little investment in public transport. In the early 1990s though an EU-funded Dublin Transportation Initiative put the city on a new path… Some accompanying reading. Built Environment – The Power of Plans https://www.alexandrinepress.co.uk/built-environment/power-plans The Dublin Transportation Initiative Jim recommends the following by Frank McDonald:
Some accompanying listening. Jim’s recommendation. Summer in Dublin by Bagatelle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhWll_mfGk Ian’s recommendation. The Maids of Mitchelstown by The Boty Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVE7gZ1GnBc Sam’s recommendation Big by Fontaines DC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiLk6G5N-3Y 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 05 Mar 2022 | No Little Plans | 00:54:00 | |
Is planning for America anathema to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness? Is it true, as ideologues like Friedrich Von Hayek, Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand have claimed, that planning leads to dictatorship, that the state is wholly destructive, and that prosperity is owed entirely to the workings of a free market? This is the synopsis of 'No Little Plans', Ian Wray's 2019 book that goes in search of an America shaped by government, plans and bureaucrats, not by businesses, bankers and shareholders. Ian discusses 'No Little Plans' in this episode with Sam Stafford; Katie Wray; and, all of the way from the USA as the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast goes global, Karen Trapenberg Frick. Ian Wray is Honorary Professor and Fellow in the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy at Liverpool University. He was formerly Chief Planner at the North West Development Agency between 200 and 2010. Katie Wray (@kluw) is an Assistant Director at Deloitte. Karen Trapenberg Frick (@TrapenbergFrick) is an Associate Professor in City & Regional Planning, at the University of California. 'No Little Plans' was Ian's follow-up to 2016's 'Great British Plans', which Sam, Ian and Katie discuss in Episode 36. Some accompanying reading. No Little Plans - How Government Built America’s Wealth and Infrastructure LEGO Can Build a Northern Overground https://journal.theaou.org/articles/lego-can-build-a-northern-overground/ The essential state - Pandemic, norms and values, and the new authoritarianism https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1473095220969626?journalCode=plta A Sure Bet: Megaprojects - Not on Time and Not on Budget https://www.alexandrinepress.co.uk/Oakland_Bay_Bridge Some accompanying listening. For UK Listeners Jimi Hendrix plays the Star Spangled banner at Woodstock in 1969 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3-b3ViNTMI For US listeners The Village Green Preservation Society -The Kinks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc7dmu4G8oc 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 01 May 2020 | The London Plan - Capital Punishment? | 00:50:29 | |
Is there any substance to Robert Jenrick’s criticism of Sadiq Khan’s London Plan or is it just the victim of some Punch and Judy-style, blue on red oneupmanship? Sam Stafford discusses this question, and, if devolution and planning white papers are to encourage more mayoral Spatial Development Strategies, the lessons from London for elsewhere, with Alice Lester (Operational Director - Regeneration, Growth & Employment, Brent Council), Rob Krzyszowski (Head of Planning Policy, Transport & Infrastructure, Haringey Council) and Andrew Taylor (Head of Planning, Countryside Properties). Twitter Handles: @samuel_stafford, @AliceatBrent, @robzowski and @AndrewJTaylor3. Some accompanying reading. The Secretary of State and the Mayor's recent correspondence: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/new-london-plan/secretary-states-response Some recommended listening. Alice's appearance on a proper podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fgp5 Some recommended viewing. A classic episode of Bottom: | |||
| 20 Apr 2024 | A Hillside to die on | 00:46:16 | |
Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Greg Dickson and Claire Petricca-Riding. During a conversation recorded at Reform Radio they talked about another exciting few weeks in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning. They talked about RPs not bidding for Section 106 sites, they talked about the 'Accelerated Planning System' consultation, so the proposals for the new Section 73B, the ten week determination period for major commercial applications, and restrictions on the use of extension of time agreements. They talked about the Flood Risk Sequential Test and touched on the Government response to a consultation on operational reforms to the NSIP process. Some accompanying reading. An accelerated planning system Simon Ricketts’ S73B Blog https://simonicity.com/2024/04/01/section-73-or-section-73b/ Zack Simons' Flood Risk Sequential Test Blog https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/buildin-in-the-rain-flood-risk-in-the-courts Pre-application advice and Planning Performance Agreements Power & Partnership: Labour’s plan to power up Britain https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labours-plan-to-power-up-britain/ A Westminster Hall Debate on 13 March 2024 Labour’s planning proposals http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/10/labours-planning-proposals.html Some accompanying viewing. The fine kind of rain that soaks you through - Peter Kay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk8xHtbkhR8 Can you imagine a world without lawyers? - The Simpsons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG3uea-Hvy4 Some accompanying listening Hillside Song - My Morning Jacket https://youtu.be/XmLiKGpSC4g?si=4TkfP6YMFgfUYfJ1 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 14 Aug 2020 | Planning Reform Day | 01:00:12 | |
The decorations have been taken down, the uneaten party food has been frozen for next time and all of the summary emails from planning consultants have been diligently saved in the ‘Government Policy’ folder. Another Planning Reform Day has been and gone, but this was a bigger one than usual. The sector had been whipped into a frenzy ever since Policy Exchange, from whence Downing Street’s housing and planning advisor came, published it’s ‘Rethinking the Planning System for the 21st Century’ report in January. ‘It’s this week!’. ‘No I’ve heard it’s next week’. It’s a White Paper’. ‘No, it’s a Policy Paper…’ And so it went on until, all of a sudden, everybody agreed that it was midnight and then, like a general election result, planners had to decide whether to stay up really late or get up really early (or both). And now, a few days later and as the excitement subsides, we are left to ask ourselves what the ‘Planning For The Future’ White Paper really means. Is it ‘radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the Second World War’, as Her Majesty’s Government would have us believe or is it ‘a developer's charter that will see communities side lined in decisions’ as Her Majesty’s Opposition would have us believe? The Government put together a task force to draft the White Paper and for this episode Sam Stafford puts a 50 Shades task force together to interpret it. Matthew Spry (@mspry_) is a Senior Director at Lichfields; Ruth Stockley (@RuthStockley3) is a barrister at Kings Chambers; and Anna Rose (@EPlanna) is Head of the Planning Advisory Service at the Local Government Association. Some associated reading. Planning for the future https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future Changes to the current planning system https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-planning-system Lichfields' analysis' https://lichfields.uk/grow-renew-protect-planning-for-the-future/the-white-paper/ Rachel Coxcoon's Twitter thread about zero carbon homes https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1293202597990596609.html Simon Ricketts' blog about the White Paper https://simonicity.com/2020/08/07/for-the-future/ Some associated watching. HIGPNFY with Chris Katkowski QC | |||
| 08 Sep 2020 | Places & Spaces | 00:51:21 | |
A place, in the urban context at least, is its buildings, the spaces around them and the hustle and bustle of people making their way betwixt and between them. The only place that many people have known for a while though is home. On the one hand we have got to know our local environs more, but, on the other, and as we creep tentatively back into towns and cities, how will we find urban places now? The buildings are less densely populated and might soon need to be used for different things. The spaces have more demands upon them from restaurateurs, cyclists, pedestrians and urban dwellers coming out for air. There is less hustle and less bustle. How permanent might these changes be and how might the certainty and confidence with which new places have been created be affected as a result. How will the pandemic change the nature of place? Sam Stafford discusses these themes in this episode with Ruairidh Jackson (Founding Director at Start Advisory), Sue Manley (Director at Placemarque) and Katie Wray (Assistant Director at Deloitte). Katie and Placemarque are on Twitter at @kluw and @placemarque, and Start Advisory is on Instagram at @start_advisory. Some accompanying reading. 'Coronavirus: we’re in a real-time laboratory of a more sustainable urban future' by Paul Chatterton. 'The city and the virus' by Max Nathan. https://medium.com/@maxnathan/the-city-and-the-virus-db8f4a68e404 ‘We can’t go back to normal’: how will coronavirus change the world?' by Peter C Baker. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/how-will-the-world-emerge-from-the-coronavirus-crisis Some accompanying listening. Places And Spaces by Donald Byrd. | |||
| 22 Apr 2023 | All politics is local | 00:53:43 | |
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. The planning system, it could be contended, is a triangle. At one vertex there are the officers, the professionals, the technocrats, battling gainfully to get a local plan in place so as to determine planning applications in accordance with it. At another vertex there are the great British public, whose consciousness is only really pricked by planning when an application is mooted that might add vital seconds to waiting times at the end of their road. At the third vertex there are the councillors, who have a responsibility for both a councils’ corporate priorities and the priorities of the people likely to influence their re-election prospects. The role of the councillor has increased considerably, it could be said, since the localism genie was let out of the bottle back in 2010, with an expectation that nobody has sought to dampen since that communities are very much in control even if a site has already been allocated or already has an outline permission. As planning has become more contentious, arguably as a result of said genie being out of said bottle, the number of independent councillors has also increased, and they often soon realise that a council's priorities and the public’s priorities might be two very different things. Is too much expected of councillors or too little? Do councillors have too much power or too little? Should the planning triangle be an equilateral one, with all three parties in perfect harmonious balance, or are the needs of one group any more acute than the others? These are questions that Sam Stafford explored in a conversation recorded remotely with Kevin Whitmore, Catriona Riddell and Adele Morris in December 2022, but is being published now with local elections again back on the horizon. Kevin (T: @kevin_whitmore) is Head of North & Midlands at BECG. Catriona (T: @CatrionaRiddel1) is a Director at Catriona Riddell & Associates. Adele (@AdeleLibDem) is a former councillor in Southwark and a member peer at the Planning Advisory Service. Some accompanying reading. 'Four ways of making councillors accountable for poor decisions' by Catriona (£) Rebuilding Trust – research and a discussion paper from Grosvenor https://www.grosvenor.com/property/property-uk/community-success/building-trust 87% of planners say social media fuels misinformation on local planning issues Probity in Planning – LGA and PAS advice for councillors and officers making planning decisions https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/34.2_Probity_in_Planning_04.pdf Some accompanying listening. Canned Heat – Let’s Work Together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXo6G5mfmro 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html The image of the Piece Hall is used with the kind permission Ellis Robinson (I: @ellisjrobinson) and has been turned into the 50 Shades logo by Vicky Payne (I: @_.vicky_payne._). | |||
| 01 May 2021 | Fudge | 00:54:28 | |
"Thanks to our planning system, we have nowhere near enough homes in the right places. People cannot afford to move to where their talents can be matched with opportunity. Businesses cannot afford to grow and create jobs. The whole thing is beginning to crumble and the time has come to do what too many have for too long lacked the courage to do – tear it down and start again." So said the Prime Minister in the Foreword to 2020’s ‘Planning for the future’ White Paper. “Instead of new homes being built where demand to live is greatest, they will now be built where a group of Conservative backbenchers in the south east think people should live.” So said Paul Brocklehurst, Chair of the Land Promoters & Developers Federation, in response to the Government’s decision not to proceed with the changes to the standard method for calculating local housing need that were consulted upon in parallel to the White Paper. Whilst the second iteration of the standard method represents business as usual for the majority of LPAs, for the 33 London authorities and 19 other largest cities the new standard method represents, at face value at least, something of a headache. That is, of course, unless the new standard method is exposed in short order as the sticking plaster that many take it for. If not the ‘mutant algorithm’ though, and not this second iteration, then how should a standard method be calculated? And if a Government with a healthy majority cannot tackle what could have been a relatively straightforward change to the standard method how likely now are the genuinely reformist elements of the White Paper? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Christopher Young QC of No. 5 Chambers (@No5Planning); Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly), Principal Consultant at the Planning Advisory Service (@pas_team); and Colin Robinson, Director at Lichfields (@LichfieldsUK). Some accompanying reading. Government response to the local housing need proposals in "Changes to the current planning system. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-planning-system Chris' Topic Paper - 'It's the housing numbers, Stupid.' Lichfields' blog - 'Your Official Top 20: The new Standard Method and the cities/urban centres uplift'. Lichfields' blog - 'Mangling the mutant: change to the standard method for local housing need'. Inside Housing - 'Councils hit out at government’s ‘unrealistic’ new planning formula'. Some accompanying viewing. Dumb & Dumber - Official Trailer | |||
| 18 Sep 2021 | Hitting the High Notes - Paul Barnard | 01:02:45 | |
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission or project Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period of their career. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening to this episode, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Paul Barnard MBE (@Paul_Planning). Paul is Service Director for Strategic Planning & Infrastructure, his fifteenth job title at Plymouth City Council. Their conversation takes in hostels for the homeless; the Single Regeneration Budget; the importance of both a vision and a political consensus; and distributing CIL via the Crowdfunder platform. Paul's song selections. Rubicon by Killing Joke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqBeBuBoKw Shadowplay by Joy Division https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPt3-lB5Lsc Home by Depeche Mode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZHs-SRJbzU This is the Day by The The https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYgKCbFbWY Gnossiennes by Erik Satie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7kvGqiJC4g A Night Like This by The Cure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE1nu67-U2I This must be the place by Talking Heads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gK2fOq4MY Paul’s Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0IQk1lzFHsKdjDYmAjMX9R?si=AdqGUnMqRTWn8thenEyEWA&dl_branch=1 Some accompanying reading. A Vision For Plymouth https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningandbuildingcontrol/visionplymouth Plymouth’s Plan for Homes https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/housing/planhomes Plymouth’s City Change Fund https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningandbuildingcontrol/neighbourhoodplanning/citychangefund 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 07 Aug 2020 | Jet Zero | 00:55:10 | |
‘This moment gives us a much greater chance to be radical and to do things differently’, said the Prime Minister with typical understatement in his Dudley speech at the end of June. ‘To build back better, build back greener, build back faster.’ Who could possibly disagree with that? Nobody, which is probably why the phrase was drafted like that. It means all things to all people, but the creative ambiguity, nee intellectual incoherence, is illustrated by the catchy ‘Jet Zero’ reference in that Dudley speech and lofty ambitions for the world’s first zero emission long haul passenger plane. The short-term priority is to try to save jobs and livelihoods, but that means restoring high-carbon sectors such as aviation. The reduction of net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050 became law in the UK in June 2019. As the Committee on Climate Change recently noted though, whilst “initial steps towards a net-zero policy package have been taken this was not the year of policy progress that the Committee called for.” The pandemic is a chance to reset the economy and to bring together the seemingly dichotomous nature of greener versus faster, but what would ‘building back better’, if it isn’t just vacuous sloganeering, mean for planning. Sam Stafford puts this question to Hugh Ellis, Director of Policy at the TCPA; Jon Lovell, co-founder of Hillbreak (@Lovell_Jon); and Claire Petricca-Riding, Partner & National Head of Planning and Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell (@PetriccaRiding). Some accompanying reading: 'The sustainable, responsible and impact investment landscape', by Caroline McGill at Hillbreak https://www.hillbreak.com/impact-finance-part-i/ The Future Homes Standard: changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings The TCPA responds to the Prime Minister’s ‘Build, build, build’ announcements Reducing UK emissions: 2020 Progress Report to Parliament https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/reducing-uk-emissions-2020-progress-report-to-parliament/ Some accompanying listening. Big Jet Plane by Primal Scream | |||
| 01 Jul 2023 | The Power of Plans - Shenzen | 00:45:04 | |
This episode is part of an international triumvirate, which has been put together with the help of old friend of the podcast, Ian Wray, and new friend of the podcast, Lucy Natarajan. Ian, regular listeners will know, is a Professor at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at University of Liverpool. Lucy is one of the editors of the Built Environment journal, a co-founder of Place Alliance, an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes and an Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning. Ian and Lucy compiled the December 2022 edition of Built Environment and sought in so doing to explore ‘the power of plans’. This, they endeavoured to do, by way of a series of internationally commissioned case studies on grand plans that have been shown to work, asking how they worked and why. In this series Sam Stafford explores with Lucy and Ian three of those case studies. In this episode, in a recording made online in June 2023, Ian and Sam talk about Shenzen with Mee Kam Ng. Shenzen is a city that, when designated as China’s first Special Economic Zone in the late 1970s was a border town with a population of less than 250,000 and is now the country’s ‘Silicon Valley’, with a population of over 17 million. Some accompanying reading. Built Environment – The Power of Plans https://www.alexandrinepress.co.uk/built-environment/power-plans Ian’s recommendation. How Asia Works by Joe Studwell Mee Kam’s recommendations Theorising Urban Planning in a Transitional Economy: The Case of Shenzhen, People's Republic of China https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40112599.pdf Strategic Planning of China's First Special Economic Zone: Shenzhen City Master Plan (2010–2020) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649357.2011.626316 The Story of Shenzhen Spatial Planning for Smart Sustainable Development? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649357.2022.2139075 Some accompanying listening. Mee Kam’s recommendation. Story of Spring (Guangdong Province's 30th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up) by Dong Wenhua https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfRHaKwvOxs 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 03 Feb 2024 | Hitting the High Notes - Simon Ricketts | 00:54:57 | |
This episode is another in the Hitting The High Notes series. If you have not listened to one before the basic proposition is that Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that Listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with You Tube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is self-proclaimed ubiquitous planning lawyer and 50 Shades stalwart Simon Ricketts, who was the number one-ranked planning solicitor in last years’ Planning Magazine law survey. Their conversation was recorded at Soho Radio Studios in London back in May last year and takes in Simon's full and fascinating career. They talk about what makes a good client, a good consultant and a good project team; about how scratching a creative itch can lend one towards thought leadership; and about how to maintain an indie ethos whilst climbing the corporate ladder. Some accompanying listening. Simon’s Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1W2IbJrD7lsLEfQ8XLxUwQ?si=bd98cfd052fb4098 A New England - Kirsty MacColl https://youtu.be/Vnzpg5GgQCo?si=n-78J1RCuwRo9wmP Missing - Everything But The Girl https://youtu.be/U56Ns66Qrb8?si=Ulk_jTwlBGKb0E-H Beat Surrender - The Jam https://youtu.be/MHP0UxBuuGQ?si=1UBTSuFCFE1E9WSS Fight Test – The Flaming Lips https://youtu.be/fye1XtXQn9s?si=1SDPjiRSRmmoVvhx Boredom – Buzzcocks https://youtu.be/QoYiQ8Qsozk?si=8jp64JKmEroPa8KG I Feel the Earth Move - Carole King https://youtu.be/6913KnbMpHM?si=pqBQiX_HP2p0L8cC Episode 32: Legal Eagles https://pod.co/50-shades-of-planning/legal-eagles 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 02 Oct 2021 | A fairway to solve the housing crisis | 00:48:00 | |
This episode explores two crises, one of which is a very public one and the other a more private one. There is a housing crisis. Millions of people live in unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable homes; young people are living at home with their parents for longer; and the average age of first time buyers gets older. At the same time there is something of a crisis in golf. There was a spike in 2020 as it became one of the few things that people could do outdoors during lockdown, but the longer term trends in both club membership and participation are very much downwards. These crises intersect. Why, commentators have asked, given an over-provision of golf course supply and an under-provision of housing supply, don’t more golf courses come forward for development? If London’s golf courses, for example, were a borough in their own right it would bigger than Brent and only slightly smaller than Sutton. Given too that 43 of London’s golf courses are within public ownership, mostly the London boroughs themselves, why are they being used to the benefit of the few rather than the benefit of the many? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Russell Curtis, Director at RCKa (@russellcurtis); Tim Lloyd-Skinner, MD at Melior Golf and Regional Director at Golf Management Group (@GMG_Tim); and Kathryn Ventham, Director, at Barton Willmore (@kateventham). Some accompanying reading. Russell's 'Golf Belt' Blog https://golfbelt.russellcurtis.co.uk/ 'London golf courses could provide homes for 300,000 people, study says' - The Guardian 'Golf’s stranglehold on land in London should be broken' - The New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/2021/09/golf-s-stranglehold-land-london-should-be-broken Some accompanying listening. 'Straight Down The Middle' by Bing Crosby Some accompanying viewing. 'The shot of a champion'. Sam's approach to the 18th at Belton Woods in 2017, the second of his now three wins in the prestigious Disco Steve Invitational Journey (commentary by Sam's friend Nigel). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgG0yevolZY 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 10 Sep 2022 | Neutral Impact II | 01:03:18 | |
When Sam Stafford introduced Episode 38 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast on nutrient neutrality he described the topic of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself. A little niche, but very important. Since then, February 2021, whilst the podcast remains a little niche, the nutrient neutrality issue has very much broken into the mainstream of planning consciousness. Sam and his guests in Episode 38 spoke for the most part about the Solent, which was the first SPA within which Natural England recommended that LPAs withhold planning permission unless negative impacts of development can be ruled out completely. In March this year, 2022, Natural England announced that a further 20 catchments covering 42 additional local authorities were also subject to the restriction, which brings to a total of 27, the number of catchments, and 74, the number of LPAs, that are now subject to the restrictions. The HBF has calculated that at least 100,000 homes are currently delayed because of the nutrients issue. A further eighteen months on Sam revisits the questions posed in Episode 38. What has the impact of this issue been? How far away is a satisfactory resolution in those parts of the country that have been affected? And, with change afoot for both the post-Brexit environmental assessment regime and the planning system more broadly, what lessons can be drawn for planning at the scale of a river catchment? Sam's guests in this episode are:
Some accompanying reading George Eustice’s WMS https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-plan-to-reduce-water-pollution July's Chief Planner Letter How a Tesco chicken deal may have helped pollute one of the UK’s favourite rivers Truss vows to ditch nutrient neutrality rules https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/truss-vows-to-ditch-nutrient-neutrality-rules/5118915.article Achieving nutrient neutrality for new housing development – The economic impact of the under-delivery of housing. New report finds Natural England significantly over estimates the impact of new housing development on nutrient pollution. Some accompanying listening. Episode 38 – Neutral Impact https://pod.co/50-shades-of-planning/neutral-impact Dirty Water by The Jesus & Mary Chain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na85WcMSqjo 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 26 Jun 2019 | The need for speed | 00:51:56 | |
Sam Stafford and his guests Vicky Payne and Paul Smith discuss the forthcoming 'Accelerated Planning' Green Paper and swap holiday stories. | |||
| 23 Mar 2024 | Banishing Boxland | 00:48:50 | |
The Prime Minister recently announced plans to "turbocharge" development within England's largest towns and cities to mark a Government consultation on strengthening planning policy for brownfield development. Sam Stafford thought then that now would be a good time to share a conversation that he recorded online in August 2023 with old friends of the podcast David Milner and Rebecca Coley, and new friend of the podcast Mark Aylward, about the redevelopment of big box retail parks. The prompt for the conversation was a 2018 report that Sam had come across by Create Streets and Policy Exchange called ‘Better Brownfield’, which claimed that there are over 1200 sites across London currently occupied by single-storey big box retail and industrial sheds and that, by ‘banishing boxland’, these sites could accommodate between 250,000 and 300,000 new homes. Who owns and manages assets like these? What is the market like for big boxes in the new world of online retail? And what are the opportunities presented by, and the barriers to, sites like this coming forward for a mixed-use redevelopment? These are the questions that Sam invited David, Mark and Rebecca to explore with him. Some accompanying reading. How to house London’s surging population? Banish “boxland” – by Susan Emmett Better Brownfield https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/better-brownfield/ Five retail and leisure trends to look out for in the post-pandemic era Pipeline of data centres needs to more than double by 2025 to meet demand for storage in Europe The London Land Challenge; The Industrial Land Market https://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/229130/329623-0 Some accompanying listening. Brighouse on Saturday Night – Roger Davies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PQmACfPhY4 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 17 Sep 2020 | The Numbers Game | 01:09:13 | |
“At the moment, some local authorities can duck potentially difficult decisions, because they are free to come up with their own methodology for calculating ‘objectively assessed need’. So, we are going to consult on a new standard methodology for calculating ‘objectively assessed need’, and encourage councils to plan on this basis.” So said the ‘Fixing our broken housing market’ White Paper in February 2017. It might have been hoped that the introduction of the standard method in 2018 would breathe new life into the non-housing chapters of local plans that were struggling to breathe on account of the numbers debate sucking all of the oxygen out of the examination process. Whilst the concept was simpler than the 2012 NPPF’s requirement to assess OAN, it could be argued that as merely and ‘starting point’, and with “exceptional circumstances” still to be taken into account, as well as the household projections being fed into the formula seemingly changing as often as the seasons, the standard method has made little, if any, difference to local plan timescales. Here we are now digesting the implications of the proposed 2020 version of the standard method, as well as the further reform included in the housing-focussed ‘Planning for the future’ White Paper. Has the standard method improved plan making? Do the 2020 standard method and the White Paper’s proposals represent a step forwards, a step backwards or step sideways? Or infact does the numbers game simply involve going around and around in circles? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Christopher Young, Queens Counsel at No. 5 Chambers; Shelly Rouse, Principal Planner at Canterbury City Council on secondment at the Planning Advisory Service; and Colin Robinson, Director at Lichfields. Some accompanying reading. The Local Plan Expert's Group report. 'The impacts of the standard methodology for assessing the objectively assessed need for housing in local authorities' by the University of Liverpool. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/geography-and-planning/research/sarc/research-projects/ 'Setting a higher standard – a new method for assessing housing needs' by Bethan Haynes at Lichfields. 'The new standard method for assessing housing need' by Christopher Young QC. | |||
| 10 Jun 2023 | Hitting the High Notes - Steve Quartermain | 01:05:55 | |
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission or project Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period of their career. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening to this episode, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Steve Quartermain. Steve was the government’s Chief Planner for twelve years, during which time and perhaps most notably he oversaw the introduction of the transformative National Planning Policy Framework. Prior to this, as you will hear, Steve spent thirty years in local government, starting as an unqualified graduate trainee designing local plan covers in Epping Forest and ending having helped to lead Hambleton to beacon council status. Steve's song selections. The Battle of Epping Forest by Genesis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFuIYyXiD5w OK Computer by Radiohead https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTOqwbuQq_U The theme to All Creatures Great & Small https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6aquEsK_JQ House of Fun by Madness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QnBccG_ChI If It Happens Again by UB40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s54m7TIFN7w I’m Still Standing by Elton John https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHwVBirqD2s Steve's Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5XDlkcNbob5NCgcKAxXUGU?si=lXf4qpHVT4araW2SQtGO8g&nd=1 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 05 Aug 2019 | A conversation with Sean Anstee | 00:44:34 | |
Sam Stafford chats with Sean Anstee CBE about the interaction of politics and planning from the point of view of a ward councillor, Council Leader and member of a Combined Authority. Talk also turned to Sean's campaign to be mayor of Greater Manchester during the 2017 election and the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework... | |||
| 14 May 2020 | The CaMKOx Arc. Behind the curve? | 00:43:57 | |
In a 2016 interim report on the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford corridor, or the Arc, the National Infrastructure Commission identified the area as having “the potential to be “the UK’s Silicon Valley – a world-renowned centre for science, technology and innovation”. The Arc seems to have been 'the next big thing' since then, but is that potential any closer to being tapped? Is there any evidence that it really is a “national priority” and “one of the world’s greatest economic opportunities” as Robert Jenrick described it as Treasury Minister, or, as Chuck D suggested, is it best not to believe the hype. Sam Stafford discusses the Arc proposition with Tim Burden, Director at Turley; Bridget Rosewell, economist and National Infrastructure Commissioner; and Alistair Lomax, Director at the Arc Universities Group. Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford, @timburden03, @brosewell and @alistair_lomax. Some accompanying reading. The National Infrastructure Commission's report Tim's think piece https://www.turley.co.uk/comment/oxford-cambridge-arc-lets-just-get-it Some recommended viewing. The Arctic Monkeys at Reading in 2006 | |||
| 01 Jul 2020 | Rules of Engagement | 01:01:46 | |
The grinding gears of the planning system need to be kept moving. On that most people can agree. Applying a little bit of lubricant within the bits of the system that largely pass the public by, extending consents and flexibility on things like CIL payments, for example, are relatively simple and relatively uncontroversial. What about though those bits of the system that are exposed to the outside world? The bits that rub up against public expectations. How, for as long as social distancing lasts, and indeed beyond, can the public continue to be engaged with the planning system in a way that allows applications and local plans to not only progress, but to progress in ways that are sensible, fair, and perhaps most importantly, lawful. Sam Stafford discusses these issues with Greg Dickson, Director at Barton Willmore; Sarah James, Policy & Membership Development Manager at Civic Voice; and Kevin Whitmore, Head of North & Midlands at BECG. Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford; @GregDickson1; @jamesslf and @kevin_whitmore. Some accompanying reading. Temporary changes to the publicity requirements for certain planning applications: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/consultation-and-pre-decision-matters#covid19 Sarah's blog 'Going from the physical to the digital': https://civicvoiceblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/going-from-the-physical-to-the-digital/ Kevin's blog 'Reflections from a virtual world': https://becg.com/blog/reflections-from-a-virtual-world/ Publicity requirements for the London Plan (in the Business & Planning Bill): Publicity requirements for other local development documents (a Written Ministerial Statement by Lord Greenhalgh): Some accompanying listening. Rules Of Engagement by King Creosote: | |||
| 25 Feb 2023 | Life on the Front Line II | 00:51:58 | |
‘Are you planning a 50 Shades on the local authority staffing crisis?’ It was that message from a 50 Shades listener that prompted Episode 60 of the podcast, which Sam Stafford called ‘Life on the Front Line’. At around the same time, Catriona Riddell used a Planning Magazine column to highlight low morale in LPAs, citing hostility towards planners and the planning system from every quarter. Catriona revisited this theme in another recent column and Sam thought that it would be interesting to revisit 'Life on the Front Line' too. This episode, like the first one, has been informed by a ‘call-for-evidence’ and the submissions can all be viewed on the 50 Shades Blog (see below). What is it like for senior officers managing people and budgets in the current climate? What is it like navigating major schemes through the system when team members might not be based in the same part of the country let alone the same part of an office building? A year on from Episode 60, what is life like now on planning’s front line? Sam puts these questions to Catriona, Peter Geraghty, Paul Barnard and Sarah McLaughlin. Catriona (@CatrionaRiddel1) is a Director at Catriona Riddell & Associates. Peter (@planitpres) is an Executive Director at Hertsmere Borough Council and Junior Vice-President of the Planning Officers Society. Paul (@Paul_Planning) is Service Director at Plymouth City Council. Sarah is Head of Growth & Infrastructure at Hertfordshire County Council and Deputy Chair of the Planning Working Group at the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport. Some accompanying reading. The Life on the Front Line II Blog http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2022/12/call-for-evidence-life-on-front-line-ii.html The LGA's 2022 Local Government Workforce Survey https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/2022-local-government-workforce-survey We need to put planning and the planning profession at the heart of levelling-up https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2022/11/16/we-need-put-planning-and-planning-profession-heart-levelling Council planning chiefs must show purpose to keep isolated junior staff on board Under resourcing, harassment, and internet trolling leaves more than 75% of planners overstretched Some accompanying listening. Keep on keeping on by Curtis Mayfield https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-l91O9VxN0 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 11 Nov 2023 | A Plan for England | 01:00:12 | |
"Regional Spatial Strategies bridged the gap between those planning issues determined by local policy or concern, and those subject to policy goals defined at a national level – such as those for housing or renewable energy. The intended abolition of regional spatial planning strategies leaves a vacuum at the heart of the English planning system which could have profound social, economic and environmental consequences set to last for many years” So concluded, presciently, the all party Commons Communities and Local Government Committee in March 2011. What is to be done about the ongoing vacuum at the heart of the English planning system? Is it time to contemplate a 'Plan for England' and, if so, what does that look like? What is it for? What does it include? Is it a single document with nation-wide coverage or a composite of regional priorities? Where does responsibility for it sit? From which organisations and institutions does power have to be taken or conferred in order for a Plan for England to be prepared? These are questions that four friends of the podcast, Catriona Riddell, Ian Wray, Jim Steer and Matthew Spry, ruminate on during an online conversation recorded for this episode. Catriona runs her own consultancy business, is strategic planning advisor to the Planning Officers Society, and vice-chair of the TCPA. Ian is an Honorary Professor and Fellow at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice & Place at the University of Liverpool and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences . Jim is a pioneer of current day transport planning having founded renowned consultancy Steer Davies Gleave, now Steer Group of which Jim remains a board member. Jim is a Fellow and Past President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport, and is a Director at Greengauge21, a group he established in 2006 to foster debate on a high-speed rail network for Britain. Matthew Spry is Head of Lichfields’ London office and also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Some accompanying reading. Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies: a planning vacuum? - Communities and Local Government Committee https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmcomloc/517/51708.htm Why England needs a spatial plan and what we can learn from the devolved nations https://www.thersa.org/blog/2019/06/england-plans Do We Need a Plan for England? https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-institute/blog/doweneedaplanforengland/ Labour’s planning proposals https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/10/labours-planning-proposals.html Hacking Housing: Nine supply side hacks to fix out housing system error https://www.appghousing.org.uk/ Rachel McLean’s letter to Harborough (Appendix J) The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Housing_and_Planning_Advice_Unit Some accompanying viewing. Peter Kay’s Taxi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cDXc3VYylk Some accompanying listening. Episode 98: The Power of Plans – New York https://pod.co/50-shades-of-planning/the-power-of-plans-new-york Music To Plan Towns To – The ultimate town planning-themed playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/73JzYK9UqCXRiUjQhgSID4?si=9a0ceb021338436a 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 15 May 2021 | Hitting the High Notes - Ben Castell | 01:00:56 | |
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission or project Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period of their career. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening to this episode, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Aecom Director Ben Castell (@ben_castell). Their conversation takes in the New Deal For Communities; CABE; good practice design guides; the Housing Market Renewal Initiative and neighbourhood planning. Ben's song selections. Brickbat by Billy Bragg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgKKZSF04Ks Clandestino by Manu Chao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSEUH4KRfN8 Police & Thieves by Junior Murvin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlP3J3J3Upw Honest Life by Courtney Marie Andrews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cv0ATLNDJQ Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town by Kenny Rogers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1e9p6J89rQ NW5 by Madness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1J2-_u9DOM Ben's Spotify playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6IXe20tZ0BPbd4kwTa6iN3?si=uDSo6r43TjuwQ-rEZkwcEA&dl_branch=1 | |||
| 06 Nov 2021 | The Coastal Path | 00:54:43 | |
The Chief Medical Officer, in their annual report, presents to Government information or ‘surveillance’ about the health of England’s population, offering recommendations to both government and individual organisations as to how to improve the public health system. In his 2021 report, published in July, Chris Whitty chose to report on health in coastal communities. It concluded that: There are many reasons for poor health outcomes in coastal communities. The pleasant environment attracts older, retired citizens to settle, who inevitably have more and increasing health problems. An oversupply of guest housing has led to Houses of Multiple Occupation which lead to concentrations of deprivation and ill health. The sea is a benefit but also a barrier: attracting NHS and social care staff to peripheral areas is harder, catchment areas for health services are artificially foreshortened and transport is often limited, in turn limiting job opportunities. Many coastal communities were created around a single industry such as previous versions of tourism, or fishing, or port work that have since moved on, meaning work can often be scarce or seasonal. Physical and natural environment? Demography? Housing? Transport? Employment? This, Sam Stafford thought, sounded like a good subject for exploration on a town planning-based podcast. What are the particular issues associated with planning for coastal communities? What distinguishes a successful coastal town from a less successful one? And what role does the planning system have in determining these outcomes? Sam puts these questions to Louise Wood (@LWood_Cornwall), Service Director for Planning at Cornwall Council; Christopher Balch (@balchplyuni), Emeritus Professor at the University of Plymouth and Non-Executive Director at the Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust; and Warren Lever (@ShapeThePlace), Senior Conservation & Design Officer at New Forest District Council. Some accompanying reading. Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021: health in coastal communities 'Imagination is key to the revival of Britain’s seaside towns' Levelling up: The seaside town debating what change is needed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58248594 Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns and Communities - The future of seaside towns https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldseaside/320/32004.htm#_idTextAnchor008 Higher education enables graduates to move to places with better career prospects – but this leads to brain drain from the North and coastal areas https://ifs.org.uk/publications/15621 Trusting the People: the case for community-powered conservatism https://www.newlocal.org.uk/publications/trusting-people-community/ Blue Deal For Coastal Communities https://neweconomics.org/campaigns/blue-new-deal Some accompanying viewing. Councillors Ray Cox and Roy Evans discuss efforts to regenerate Marine Way in Aldington-on-Sea Some accompanying listening. The Coral - Take me back to the summertime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IREwDVoh558 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 29 Mar 2025 | Back in Black | 01:40:58 | |
The fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning has been especially fast-paced, ever-changing and rock and roll of late. How then to try to catch up? Sam Stafford thought that the best way of doing so was to reprise the ‘Labour of Love’ episode that he published back in August of last year. Here then you will hear elements of nine conversations recorded online between friends of the podcast old and new about nine themes of the Government’s crystalising reform agenda. Catriona Riddell, Andrew Taylor, Jane Meek and Alex Coley talk about strategic planning, devolution and local government reorganisation (06.54); Greg Dickson, John Sayer, Rebecca Clutten and Anthony Lee talk about CPO, land value capture and benchmark land value (17.42); Claire Petricca-Riding, Gilian MacInnes, Sarah McLaughlin and Robbie Owen talk about infrastructure planning (28.12); Andrew, Shelly Rouse, Mike Kiely and Adele Morris talk about planning committees (36.26); Claire, Hana Loftus, Nina Pindham and Neil Beamsley talk about development and nature recovery (46.11); Andrew, Annie Gingell, Hana and Sarah Young talk about Grey Belt (54.22); Andrew and Paul Smith talk about statutory consultees (01.02.42); Ben Castell, Katie Wray, Vicky Payne and Hana talk about design and placemaking (01.13.21); and Hashi Mohamed, Kathryn Ventham and Simon Mirams talk about the flood risk sequential test (01.24.45). The full conversations will appear on the 50 Shades YouTube channel in due course and Sam will share the respective links on the 50 Shades Bluesky, LinkedIn and TikTok channels when they are published. Some accompanying reading. JEKC Context 'Biggest building boom' in a generation through planning reforms The Planning and Infrastructure Bill The Planning & Infrastructure Bill: An Overview Devolution Devolving local growth: how do the emerging geographies shape up? CPO / LVC / BLV Compulsory purchase process: guidance (October 2024 update) Law Commission seeks views on compulsory purchase laws Compulsory Purchase Process and Compensation Reforms How far can land value capture be pushed? Infrastructure Growth drives major infrastructure and housing planning reform proposals Planning Committees Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees On modernising planning committees Modernising Planning Committees National Survey 2025 Nature Restoration Planning Reform Working Paper: Development and Nature Recovery Grey Belt Colouring In The Grey Belt: The PPG Grey belt policy having only a marginal impact at best Stat Cons Bureaucratic burden lifted to speed up building in growth agenda Reform of the Statutory Consultee System Flood Risk Sequential Test More Afloat – New NPPF and the Sequential Test Enhancing flood and coastal erosion risk digital services with the latest data and mapping Some accompanying listening. 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 20 Jul 2024 | Let's get digital | 01:21:32 | |
Long-serving Listeners might recall that for Episode 6 of 50 Shades of Planning Sam Stafford published a chat with Euan Mills, then of the Connected Places Catapult, on the potential for digital innovation, urban data, and user-centred design to improve the planning system. Euan, now CEO and co-founder of Blocktype, got in touch with Sam Stafford earlier this year and asked if he could put together an episode on the progress that has been made over the past five years towards this aim. This was both a kind invitation and a coincidental one because at around the same time the Spring Budget Statement included reference to “piloting the use of AI solutions to support planning authorities to streamline their local plan development processes, producing plans in 30 months rather than the current average of seven years. This builds on work to date which has already reduced planning officer processing times by up to 30% per application.” This episode features four conversations that Euan recorded back in March with four people both very knowledgeable and very active in this space. They are Alistair Parvin, CEO of Open Systems Lab; Dr Sue Chadwick, Strategic & Digital Planning Advisor at Pinsent Masons; Matt Wood-Hill, Head of Digital Planning Software at MHCLG; and Paul Downey, Planning Data Service Owner at MHLCG. During the course of this episode Listeners will learn a lot about how digital innovation, urban data, and user-centred design are improving the UK planning system. Some accompanying reading. Blocktype Plan X Planning Data Open Digital Planning The Future of Planning - How we can rewire the planning system for the digital age https://medium.com/@alastairparvin/the-future-of-planning-8a1f93e17ae1 Some accompanying listening. Digital – Goldie (feat. KRS One) (Armand Van Helden Remix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dgKcpgKxs 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. You can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shades Blog. Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 18 Nov 2020 | Legal Eagles | 01:10:31 | |
Planning law is a serious business. If the lawyers need calling in then typically something going very well needs safeguarding or something going very badly needs salvaging. If lawyers do get called in then matters also get very formal. A protocol for this and a correct way of doing that. Lawyers and the law are to be revered... Planning law seems more important, more influential and more high-profile than ever. Planning lawyers themselves though seem more accessible, more engaging and more approachable. Are the protocols, processes and procedures for liaising with our learned friends becoming less stuffy? What though will still have a barrister looking down their nose at if you if you get it wrong? And what can barristers do that solicitors can’t? Sam Stafford is joined in this episode by Simon Ricketts, Constanze Bell (Stanzie to her friends), and Jerry Cahill QC to discuss these questions; the role of the lawyer in the planning system; and to answer the questions that Sam has always been too scared to ask. Ubiquitous planning lawyer Simon (@sricketts1) is a partner at Town Legal LLP (@town_legal). Stanzie is a barrister at Kings Chambers (@KCPlanningTeam) and one of the highest rated juniors according to Planning Resource. Jerry retired in 2018 after over 40 years at the bar (35 with No.5 Chambers), but is keeping his eye in from south west Ireland with Lone Star Land. Some accompanying reading. Simon's Blog (which is definitely pronounced Simon-icity) https://simonicity.com/ Some accompanying viewing. North Square https://www.channel4.com/programmes/north-square Crown Court https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140733/ | |||
| 09 Jul 2022 | LURB | 00:54:23 | |
50 Shades listeners are a perceptive bunch and will have a spotted that the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill (LURB) was introduced to Parliament on 11 May. Whilst the word planning does not appear on the front of the bill it does appear 680 times inside and so, for a planning podcast that purports to have it's figure on the pulse, it is about time that Sam Stafford put a panel together to discuss it. Helpfully for Sam, Andrew Taylor (@AndrewJTaylor3), past 50 Shades contributor and friend of the podcast, did it for him. Andrew invited Sam to contribute to a National Planning Forum (@nat_plan) seminar on the LURB and, in preparation for the event, which took place on 5 July 2022, Sam invited the other panellists to record a preparatory chat. You will here in this episode then from:
PS. Perceptive 50 Shades listeners will also have spotted that the UK Government began to collapse on the evening of 5 July 2022 and that the future of the LURB is now uncertain. This though hopefully remains an interesting and relevant discussion. Some accompanying reading. The LURB https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3155 The policy paper that accompanies the LURB https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill Neighbourhood Planners London https://www.neighbourhoodplanners.london/ Lichfields' analysis of the role of neighbourhood plans in housing delivery https://lichfields.uk/content/insights/local-choices Simon's recent LURB blog https://simonicity.com/2022/07/02/summer-of-lurb/ Lichfields' LURB resource https://lichfields.uk/the-levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill/ Matthew Carmona's blog on the design code pilots https://matthew-carmona.com/2022/06/22/88-testing-design-codes-in-england-21-lessons/ The National Planning Forum https://www.natplanforum.org.uk/ Some accompanying listening. Everything is simple by Widowspeak 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 19 Jun 2020 | Everybody needs good neighbours | 00:58:40 | |
Where does the recent run of local plan failures at St Albans, Sevenoaks, Wealden and Chiltern & South Bucks leave the Duty to Cooperate (DtC)? As well as being bad law it seemed obvious to most practitioners at the time that the DtC was bad planning and a regression from the Regional Spatial Strategies that it sought to replace. What hope is there that forthcoming devolution and planning White Papers will tackle the underlying technical and political issues that undermine the DtC? If they do not, what hope is there for the Government’s aim, as set out in a March 2020 policy paper, for local plan coverage across England by 2023? In this episode Sam Stafford discusses the DtC with Catriona Riddell (Catriona Riddell & Associates), Zack Simons (Barrister at Landmark Chambers), and Peter French (Senior Policy Officer at the County Councils Network (CCN)). Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford; @CatrionaRiddel1, @zacksimons and @peterpfrench. Some associated reading: Zack's Planoraks Blog: https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/teamwork-failing-the-duty-to-cooperate 'County Councils & Strategic Planning: A review of current & emerging practice', by Catriona Riddell Associates and the CCN: https://thinkhouse.org.uk/site/assets/files/1605/ccn.pdf 'Unleashing counties’ role in levelling up England' by Grant Thornton and the CCN: https://www.grantthornton.co.uk/insights/unleashing-counties-role-in-levelling-up-england/ Some recommended viewing: Good Neighbours: | |||
| 15 Oct 2022 | A Home of One's Own | 00:56:32 | |
This episode is published with thanks to Simon Ricketts and his Planning Law Unplanned Clubhouse forum. Simon recently had a Clubhouse chat with Hashi Mohamed about Hashi’s book ‘A Home of One’s Own’ and they kindly agreed to record it so that Sam Stafford could share it via his 50 Shades podcast. Simon is a partner at Town Legal, author of the Simonicity planning blog and a frequent 50 Shades contributor. Hashi is a broadcaster, barrister and public speaker, and links to his work can be found below, including to his Radio 4 Analysis programme ‘Planning, Housing & Politics’. These are the themes that Simon and Hashi explore in their conversation about ‘A Home of One’s Own’, with some contributions towards the end of the discussion from Lucy Wood, James Pargeter and Kim Power. Some accompanying reading. Simon’s Simonicity blog Hashi’s website Some accompanying listening. Planning Law Unplanned Hashi’s Radio 4 Analysis programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014ptp The Charlatans – A House Is Not A Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKqJf1r77TM 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 08 Jan 2020 | Reasons to be cheerful | 01:01:06 | |
Is planning in England, as asserted by the Raynsford Review, really less effective than at any time in the post-war era? Chris Shepley, a former Chief Planning Inspector and member of the Raynsford Review panel, said that the report was produced at a time when planning is probably at its lowest ebb since 1947. Really? Does the breadth and influence of the profession now not make it more impactful than ever? As a consequence of that is it not more important than ever that planners have influence at every tier of public policy-making? These questions are the basis of a conversation that Sam Stafford has in this episode with Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and latterly Chief Executive of the Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation; Peter Rees CBE, Professor of Places & City Planning at UCL and former Chief City Planner at the City of London; and Nicki Linihan of NJL Solutions and latterly interim Director of Planning at the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and former Head of Planning and Transport at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. The Raynsford Review can be read here: https://www.tcpa.org.uk/raynsford-review The RTPI’s research into the role of Chief Planning Officers can be read here: https://www.rtpi.org.uk/knowledge/research/projects/chief-planning-officers/ | |||
| 16 Aug 2019 | Trust me. I'm a planner | 00:48:14 | |
Sam Stafford and his guests Vicky Payne and Paul Smith explore a possible link between the cinematic portrayal of property developers as wrong 'uns and this survey from Grosvenor (https://www.grosvenor.com/our-businesses/grosvenor-britain-ireland/rebuilding-trust) that looks at levels of public distrust in placemaking and large-scale development. Thanks to Vicky for the title of this episode. | |||
| 28 Oct 2023 | A LURA LURA Laughs | 01:04:59 | |
Whilst in London this week Sam Stafford recorded an end-of-month ramblechat with Ben Castell, Catriona Riddell, Gilian Macinnes and Nicola Gooch. The conversation takes in all manner of things, including the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act, news of which broke during the recording. They talk about the two part documentary 'Britain's Housing Crisis: What Went Wrong?' and touch too on nutrient neutrality. For the die hard 50 Shades fans there is some strategic planning and housing target chat in there too. A disclaimer though. This episode does feature some singing so consider yourselves warned about that. Some accompanying reading. New laws to speed up planning, build homes and level up https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-laws-to-speed-up-planning-build-homes-and-level-up Francis Maude’s review of Whitehall should lead to cross-party agreement on civil service reform https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/francis-maudes-review-whitehall Section 106 agreements and unspent developer contributions in England and Wales https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/section-106-report/ Priced Out's manifesto https://www.pricedout.org.uk/manifesto/ Lib Dems members rebuff leadership with vote to keep housebuilding targets How housing targets are stopping us building enough homes https://longwall.substack.com/p/how-housing-targets-are-stopping Some accompanying viewing. Britain's Housing Crisis: What Went Wrong? https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/10/britains-housing-crisis-what-went-wrong.htm Some accompanying listening. Episode 90 – No hope? https://pod.co/50-shades-of-planning/no-hope Tell Laura I Love Her by Ray Peterson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTjQgkHzbTk 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 21 May 2022 | Three Things (or 'The 50 Shades Manifesto For Sensible Planning Reform') | 00:57:19 | |
Regular 50 Shades Listeners will know that Sam Stafford recently had dinner with a DLUHC Minister. The conversation during dessert turned, with a set piece Planning Bill off of the agenda, to the three most impactful things that Michael Gove could do to improve the planning system. Sam subsequently shared his thoughts on Twitter (see link below) and they provoked a bit of a discussion, which he thought worthy of exploring further in a 50 Shades episode. This then is what prompted Episode 65’s 'Call for Evidence' in which Sam invited 50 Listeners to share their own suggestions for practical, pragmatic changes that, with little fuss and fanfare, could have a positive, meaningful impact on the planning system. Sam discusses the submissions, let's perhaps call them the '50 Shades Manifesto For Sensible Planning Reform', in this episode with Claire Petricca-Riding, Jonathan Easton and Paul Smith. Claire (@PetriccaRiding) is a Partner and National Head of Planning & Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell. Jonathan (@jonnye47) is full-time planning barrister at Kings Chambers and a part-time punster on Twitter. Paul (@paul_slg) is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group. Some accompanying reading. Sam’s three areas for impactful planning reform http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2022/03/three-things.html Planning for the better future – RTPI Proposals for Planning Reform in England https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy/2021/march/planning-for-a-better-future/ Local development planning in Scotland - regulations and guidance consultation: part B - proposals for development planning regulations The Future of Strategic Planning in England by the County Councils Network and Catriona Riddell Associates RTPI South West Pilot Mentoring Programme for early career planners https://www.rtpi.org.uk/swmentoring 'The Queen’s Speech – Levelling Up and Planning Reform, what can be legislated for?' Government response to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee report on The Future of the Planning System in England The Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill: Highlights, Headlines and Henry the Eighth Local Plans Expert Group: report to the Secretary of State https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-plans-expert-group-report-to-the-secretary-of-state Sir Oliver Letwin’s independent review of build out https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-build-out-final-report Some accompanying listening. The Verve – Three Steps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFiM4FORyC8 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 24 Feb 2024 | Critical Infrastructure | 00:53:10 | |
Building GP surgeries, schools and roads is not just difficult it is so difficult, according to no less of an expert on such matters than the Prime Minister, as to be a reason to not even contemplate growing existing towns and cities. In introducing recent proposals to put “rocket boosters” under construction in existing built-up areas, Rishi Sunak was quoted in The Times as saying that “We need to build homes in the places where people need and want them. There’s little point trying to force large new estates on our countryside and Green Belt when that is where public resistance to development is strongest and where the GP surgeries, schools and roads don’t exist to support new communities.” It is not uncommon though to see opinion polls from time to time highlighting that for people who are not supportive of more homes being built, building more or improving existing medical facilities would likely change their minds. It is equally not uncommon though to see stories in the press from time to time with headlines like ‘we love our homes but we’re crying out for schools and GPs’. Where is the line to be drawn between what applicants should reasonably be expected to provide as part of making a development acceptable in planning terms, and the access to health and education that citizens should reasonably expect their Government to provide for them? How effective is the planning system in bringing together all of the actors and agencies that are responsible for the delivery of social infrastructure? What are the barriers to LPAs spending what the Home Builders Federation reports to be £2.8bn in unspent S106 contributions? These are questions that Sam Stafford explores with some old friends of the podcast and some new friends of the podcast. The old friends are Andrew Taylor, Gilian MacInnes and Ben Woolnough. Andrew is Group Planning Director at Vistry Group; Gilian has her own consultancy and acts a trainer and interim manager in the public sector; and Ben is Planning Manager at East Suffolk Council. The new friends are James Cutting and Isabella Buono. James is Head of Planning at Suffolk County Council and Isabella is a Barrister at Landmark Chambers. Some accompanying reading. Public attitudes to house building: findings from the British Social Attitudes survey 2018 Our 'new town' with 2,500 homes and 1,000 more to come has no GP, the school is full and the closest supermarket is 25 minutes away - but we do have a nuclear fusion centre Section 106 agreements and unspent developer contributions in England and Wales report https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/section-106-report/?pk_campaign=newsletter_6368 A taxing problem: County Councils “desperate” for CIL money to fund infrastructure Can You Use Section 106 To Buy Drugs (And To Fund Other Public Services)? Mind the Funding Gap: The curious case of s.106 contributions funding NHS services Some accompanying listening. School by Nirvana | |||
| 02 Dec 2023 | A B~~~~~'s Muddle | 01:00:55 | |
Before heading to London for the week, Sam Stafford caught up with 50 Shades stalwarts Paul Smith, Katie Wray and Ian Wray for a wide-ranging ramblechat at the Reform Radio studios in Manchester. Paul is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group, a Director at the LPDF and a columnist for Housing Today. Katie is a Director at Deloitte. Ian is an Honorary Professor and Fellow at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice & Place at the University of Liverpool and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences . The four of them spent an hour or so chatting about all manner of things, including the private management of public space; embodied carbon; infrastructure planning and the notion of compensation payments for affected communities; the Autumn Statement and associated announcements; the Competition & Market Authority's working paper on planning; and the role of Everton’s new stadium in both their recent loss of points and the loss of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site status. Sam would like to apologies to Listeners for his use of a naughty word. Some accompanying reading. Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation Historic England Advice Note https://historicengland.org.uk/about/what-we-do/consultations/guidance-open-for-consultation/ M&S given permission to appeal Gove’s Oxford Street refusal Essex pylon corridor compensation plan 'insulting' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-67523588 Rooms for debate: polling on the housing crisis, Green Belt and planning system https://www.adamsmith.org/research/rooms-for-debate Autumn Statement 2023 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2023 Getting Great Britain building again: Speeding up infrastructure delivery Pre-application advice and Planning Performance Agreements Housebuilding market study https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/housebuilding-market-study A Perfect Storm https://lichfields.uk/content/insights/a-perfect-storm Pathways to Planning: information for councils https://www.local.gov.uk/pathways-planning-council-info Some accompanying viewing. Brian Clough on how to settle a difference of opinion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7FBfdErGgw 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 10 Dec 2022 | 🎄The 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz - London☃️ | 00:32:26 | |
It’s cold, wet and miserable and, alas, there is little in Michael Gove’s recent Written Ministerial Statement to warm the cockles of a planner’s heart. Hopefully then the return of the 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz will spread some seasonal cheer. Even by the standards of the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning it has been quite a year. With the help of Richard Garlick at Planning magazine, who provided Sam Stafford with some of the most-read stories on PlanningResource.co.uk, Sam quizzes some of the 50 Shades alumni on 2022’s highlights and lowlights. Expect fun, frivolity and an appearance from a very special guest… Some accompanying reading January Minister announces new performance measures for planning inspectors to speed up appeal decisions February Government announces first council to be designated under ‘special measures’ programme for seven years March Councils to freeze decisions on housing applications following Natural England recreation advice April Councils three times more likely to successfully defend design refusals following NPPF change, research finds May New leader says council to consider withdrawing local plan after branding housing target as ‘nonsense’ June New NPPF to come out next month, says Gove https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1789261/new-nppf-next-month-says-gove July Truss pledges new simplified planning zones to create 21st century Bournvilles August Government plans to take powers to shorten national infrastructure examinations September Affordable housing and environmental requirements ‘to be relaxed in new investment zones’ October Gove returns as levelling up secretary https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1803168/gove-returns-levelling-secretary November Half of councils lack the capacity to monitor compliance with planning enforcement, says survey December Government promises ‘strengthened’ green belt protections and penalties for ‘slow’ developers | |||
| 04 Sep 2021 | Our Friends in the North - Part 2 | 00:59:22 | |
This is the second of two 50 Shades episodes that Stephen Gleave has put together. Stephen is an urban designer and town planner and has been based in the north west of England for nearly 30 years. Stephen was invited to guest edit the Summer 2021 edition of the Urban Design Group’s quarterly journal and Sam Stafford has lent the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast as a platform for Stephen to share some of the material that he curated. If you have listened to Part 1 you will know that Stephen set out to explore urban design in the north, the 'Northern Powerhouse' and what 'levelling up' might mean for placemaking. What are the current active urban designers “up to” across the north? What influence are they having, what are they achieving and what challenges are they facing? Stephen sought input from a range of academics, consultants and practitioners in both public and private sectors and some of the contributors have kindly taken the time to read their essays for these two 50 Shades episodes. Part 2 features Leah Stuart at Civic Engineers (@LeahStu) on movement in towns and across the region; Graeme Moore at Oldham Council (@geordiegraeme81) with a view from the front line; Graham Marshall at Prosocial Place (@prosocialplace) on how people are the northern powerhouse; and Matt Doran at Manchester City Council (@iammattdoran) on the future of our town and city centres. Information on how to join the Urban Design Group and how to get hold of a copy of the Summer 2021 edition of the journal can be found here. https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/journal/urban-design-159-summer-2021 Some of this contributors to this episode have come together to form Common Good, a non-profit group of practitioners acting in their own time to encourage discussions around sustainable places and good design in the North. Follow @CommonGood_ on Twitter. Some accompanying watching. Christopher Eccleston, writer Peter Flannery and executive producer Charlie Pattinson take part in a BFI Q&A to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Our Friends in the North Some accompanying listening. Northern Skies by I Am Kloot 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 03 Feb 2021 | The Unearned Increment | 01:10:33 | |
Consensus between economists is rare, but almost all agree that there is a moral argument for the taxation of land. Planning reform, death and taxes have long been three of life’s certainties. Land taxation and the concept of betterment dates back at least to the time of Henry VI who is thought to have captured the value of land improved by royal investment in flood defences. Winston Churchill spoke in 1919 of the “unearned increment” accrued by landowners following public investment in infrastructure and called for the state to capture more of this uplift for the public benefit. The MHCLG Select Committee concluded in it’s 2018 Land Value Capture report that ‘there is scope for central and local government to claim a greater proportion of land value increases through reforms to existing taxes and charges, improvements to compulsory purchase powers, or through new mechanisms of land value capture.’ History has shown though that attempts to capture land value increases have had mixed success. Is it actually possible to capture a fair share for the community without discouraging owners from bringing land to market? Liz Peace, referring to her work as Chair of the 2017 CIL Review Group, said that ‘it is probably the most intellectually difficult thing I have ever grappled with’. Councillor Martin Tett of the Local Government Association told the MHCLG Select Committee that “if it was easy everyone would have done it years ago”. How much value is it right to capture, how should it be captured and who should spend it on what? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Richard Harwood OBE QC, Toby Lloyd and Gilian Macinnes. Richard (@richardharwood2) is Joint Head of Chambers at 39 Essex Chambers and a case editor of the Journal of Planning and Environment Law Toby (@tobylloyd) is a consultant at BuiltPlace, former Head of Policy at Shelter and a former special advisor inside No. 10. Gilian (@GilianGMAC) is a Director at Gilian Macinnes Associates, Interim Head of Planning & Development at Ashford Borough Council and a member of the CIL Review Group. Some accompanying reading. 'Land Value Capture: Attitudes from the housebuilding industry' by RICS. The Compulsory Purchase Association's submission to the MHCLG Committee. The MHCLG Committee's Land Value Capture report. 'Land Value Capture' by Richard Harwood. http://www.compulsorypurchaseassociation.org/files/Land-Value-Capture-paper-final.pdf 'A New Approach To Developer Contributions' by the CIL Review Team. 'Grounds for Change - The case for land reform in modern England' by Shelter. https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/1779418/Grounds_For_Change.pdf Planning for the Future; Challenges of introducing a new Infrastructure Levy need to be addressed' by Christine Whitehead, Tony Crook and John Henneberry. Some accompanying listening. Taxman by The Beatles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGn7eUU4kA This Land Is Your Land by My Morning Jacket (Woody Guthrie cover). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvTezD4XIU | |||
| 08 Mar 2023 | Planning for a Feminist City | 01:33:32 | |
Spatial planning can only deliver a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all if it is sensitive to the needs of all, which means taking into account the different roles women and men have in society and the different expectations and requirements they have from the planning system. Nobody could argue with that principle, but what does it mean in practice? What does planning policy look like when viewed through a gender lens, how do we plan on a gender inclusive basis at a city-wide scale and what does that look like on the ground? This episode has been put together by Sam Stafford (@samuel_stafford) with the help of Women in Planning (@womeninplanning) and the Royal Town Planning Institute to mark International Women's Day. It is comprised of three parts that will tackle those questions by way of three separate conversations. In Part 1 you will hear Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly) talk to Karen Horwood (@karenhhorwood) and Natalya Palit (@natpalit) about women in planning, woman and planning and gender mainstreaming. In Part 2 you will hear Phoebe Threlfall and Katie Shoosmith (@KFluzza) talk to Holly Bruce (@cllrhollybruce) about Holly’s ambition to make Glasgow a Feminist City. And in Part 3 you will hear Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne) talk to Imogen Clark, Helen Fadipe (@hfadipe) and Katie Wray (@kluw) about making space for girls. At the end of that segment you can also look forward to Vicky getting on the 50 Shades soapbox. Some accompanying reading. Make Space For Girls' Research Report 2023 https://www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk/resources/research-report-2023 RTPI Material:
Feminist City - Claiming Space in a Man-made World, by Leslie Kern https://www.versobooks.com/books/3842-feminist-city The substantive and descriptive representation of women in planning: analysis from practice and academia https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/tpr.2022.12 Gender mainstreaming in urban planning: What can the UK learn from Vienna with regards to adopting a gender mainstreaming approach to shape built outcomes? https://www.rtpi.org.uk/media/4471/george-pepler-report_200301_final.pdf World Bank Gender Inclusive Urban Planning and Design- Women-Friendly Urban Planning Toolkit Some accompanying viewing What would a city designed by women be like? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-50269778 What is a feminist city and where in the UK is becoming one? https://www.itv.com/news/2023-02-28/how-does-a-place-become-the-uks-first-feminist-city Some accompanying listening The Visible Women Podcast with Caroline Criado Perez https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/visible-women-with-caroline-criado-perez/id1627229311 A Leeds Beckett podcast in which Karen considers how we can plan towns and cities better for women and girls. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/we-inspire-2-sustainable-cities/id1547786504?i=1000550421074 Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill (Shelly's choice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0oeqAQ1qE8 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 09 Dec 2023 | Pre-Apps & PPAs | 00:55:09 | |
As far back as Sam Stafford can remember Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) have been the answer to questions about both how to get more resources into LPAs and how to improve application timescales. As Sam says in introducing this episode, he has been working for over twenty years, those questions remain unanswered, and PPAs remain a code yet to be cracked. Why, for example, according to Planning Magazine, were PPAs used for 30.3% of decisions in Solihull last year, but only in 1.3% of decisions in South Cambridgeshire? Why also, for example, do some authorities charge nothing for pre-application advice for residential developments of over 250 homes, some authorities charge thousands of pounds, and some authorities charge tens of thousands of pounds? The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) has sought to crack the code. It has worked with the University of Gloucestershire, Hyas Associates and the Countryside and Community Research Institute to deliver a DLUHC-funded programme on best practice in pre-application advice and PPAs. Sam mentioned this research in Episode 109 because of Jeremy Hunt’s reference in the Autumn Statement to a new “premium” planning service that will be introduced next year to include a guarantee of accelerated decision dates. Details are awaited, but Planning Magazine reports that, according to insiders, this new “premium” service is likely to involve a more formal version of PPAs. No better time then for Sam to share a conversation about the PAS research and best practice that he recorded online back in July of this year with friend of podcast Shelly Rouse, Matt Bowers and Max Whitehead. Shelly is a principal consultant at PAS, Matt is an Associate Director at Hyas Associates and Max is a Planning Director at Bloor Homes. They talk about the high hopes that applicants always have for pre-app, but why some LPAs see it as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘have to do’; they talk about the utopian vision of having all statutory consultees around a development team table at the same time; and they talk about the barriers to doing pre-app and PPAs well and the keys to success. Sam would like to extend a particular vote of thanks to editing wizard Ashley Bellinger for skilfully dealing with some gremlins in Shelly's original recording. Some accompanying reading. The PAS research and guidance Housebuilding market study https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/housebuilding-market-study Strategic Planning in England https://uwe.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4UEEyOZZBP6qEZ0 Some accompanying listening. Performance by Happy Mondays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtpD5mOgyKo Some accompanying viewing. The opening scene in Goodfellas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UAPOI5fuAM 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 17 Dec 2022 | 🎅🏻The 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz - Manchester🤶🏻 | 00:30:11 | |
It’s cold, dark and miserable and, alas, there is little in Michael Gove’s recent Written Ministerial Statement to warm the cockles of a planner’s heart. Hopefully then the return of the 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz will spread some seasonal cheer. Even by the standards of the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning it has been quite a year. With the help of Richard Garlick at Planning magazine, who provided Sam Stafford with some of the most-read stories on PlanningResource.co.uk, Sam quizzes some of the 50 Shades alumni on 2022’s highlights and lowlights. Expect fun, frivolity and an appearance from a very special guest… Some accompanying reading. January Housebuilder Barratt acquires land promoter Gladman February Appeal Court upholds ruling that planners can ignore schemes’ downstream’ environmental effects March Essex council votes against adopting local plan https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1750732/essex-council-votes-against-adopting-local-plan April City council isolates planning department for two weeks to clear applications backlog May Housing land supply requirement scrapped for authorities with up-to-date plans June We will prevent PINS ‘imposing’ unrealistic housing figures on communities, says Gove July Tory leadership hopeful pledges to scrap ‘top-down Stalinist housing targets’ August Truss pledges to ditch advice that blocks housing on nutrient water pollution grounds September The planning track record of new housing secretary Simon Clarke October Council delays local plan work over housing need and national policy uncertainties November Government to ‘refocus’ investment zone programme on universities December What Gove’s changes to housing need will mean for local plan-making | |||
| 20 Aug 2022 | An esoteric discussion about the planning system | 00:50:38 | |
Sam Stafford revisits the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill with regular 50 Shades contributors Claire Petricca-Riding, Vicky Payne and Paul Smith. Their conversation explores what the Bill is and is not, what it may and may not mean, and where it may or may not go next. This episode also touches on design and environmental matters in more detail than the previous episode on the LURB, which was number 71. Claire Petricca-Riding (@PetriccaRiding) is a Partner and National Head of Planning & Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell. Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne) is an Associate Principal at URBED. Paul Smith (@Paul_SLG) is Managing Director at The Strategic Land Group. Some accompanying reading. The Beginning of the End of Environmental Impact Assessments - Stefano DAmbrosio-Nunez, Irwin Mitchell How to submit written evidence to Public Bill Committees https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/commons/scrutinyunit/written-submissions/ Sleepy Suburbs – Centre for Cities https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/sleepy-suburbs-housing-crisis/ Testing Design Codes in England – Matthew Carmona https://matthew-carmona.com/2022/06/22/88-testing-design-codes-in-england-21-lessons/ Some accompanying listening. All You Do Is Talk – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-8aCX5cyYs 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 23 Oct 2019 | A conversation with Bob Kerslake | 00:41:36 | |
Sam Stafford chats with The Right Honourable The Lord Kerslake, who, as former Chief Executive of Sheffield and Hounslow councils; Chief Executive of the HCA; and Permanent Secretary of DCLG, has had a unique insight into workings of the English planning system. Sam and Bob discuss balancing the books at Sheffield City Council and the need to accelerate devolution and develop a spatial plan for England in order to rebalance regional inequalities, which are two of the recommendations of Bob's work with the UK2070 Commission (http://uk2070.org.uk). | |||
| 22 Jan 2022 | Hitting the High Notes - Wayne Hemingway | 00:45:37 | |
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission or project Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period of their career. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening to this episode, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Wayne Hemingway. In 1979 Wayne completed a degree in Geography & Town Planning at UCL, co-founding at the same time fashion business Red or Dead. In 1999, having sold the company, he co-founded Hemingway Design, which specialises in affordable and social design. Their conversation takes in squatters, hipsters and Gorillaz. Wayne's song selections. Me No Pop (12" version) by Coati Mundi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHN6wBm4sI (We don’t need this) Fascist Groove Thang (12" version) by Heaven 17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV5dbcOmw6I Harlem River Drive (album version) by Bobbi Humphrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVoWOSCkvQ0 Dare by Gorillaz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAOR6ib95kQ The light pours out of me by Magazine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nImOq_eWHEM Tees Happy (12" version) by North End https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRDUu96mzvw Wayne’s Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5cDgsrUij1o5Ktf412S6oZ?si=1MSBGIExT36jvU0sdZYAyg Wayne’s Mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/hemingwaywayne/ Some accompanying reading Hemingway Design https://www.hemingwaydesign.co.uk/ Go home to Wayne’s World https://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/property/go-home-to-wayne-s-world-9211553.html Staiths South Bank – A retrospective Barratt Developments’ ‘Great Places Initiative Dreamland: Margate amusement park sold for £2.3m https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-56171446 Hipster-led Regeneration https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/hipster-led-regeneration-wayne-hemingway Incredible Edible Todmorden East Point / First Light, Lowestoft https://firstlightlowestoft.com/east-point-pavilion/ Vintage-by-the-Sea, Morecambe https://www.decopublique.co.uk/vintage-by-the-sea-1 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 04 Dec 2020 | Tall Stories | 00:52:05 | |
The nights have drawn in. It’s impossible as in previous years to nip out for a pint in order to escape Strictly or Celeb (at least it is in Tier 3). A long, inhospitable winter will have to be endured before there is any possibility of a springtime shot in the arm and a return to something approaching normal. Sprinkled on top of this bleakness for planners is that the handling of the White Paper arguably makes planning’s systemic challenges harder to tackle than should have been hoped for. Yes it’s fair to say that good cheer is in short supply, but, fear not, the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast is here to spread some. Sam Stafford is joined in this episode by David Diggle (@Diggs16), Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne) and Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly) to share some of their funny career stories. There are contributions too from Jonathan Easton (@jonnye47) and Sam Smith (@SmithSam_). As anybody familiar with the case of the Headington shark will know, any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky. As anybody working within the planning system will attest, it certainly does make place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright quirky... | |||
| 16 Jul 2020 | Crosstown Traffic | 01:01:23 | |
The need for people to travel and the way in which they can travel has changed dramatically in a short period of time and, early on during the Coronavirus crisis especially, there was a sense that this change had the potential to be more permanent than temporary and contribute to the ‘Building Back Better’ agenda. As lockdown starts to ease though and traffic starts to flow again, or rather to not flow again, what is the sense of that change now? Is the window for a fundamental modal shift from car to two wheels and two legs closing? Has the planning system, or at least the regulatory regime, helped or hindered that? What might the lasting impact of the pandemic be on travel patterns and how will the planning system have to respond to that? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Brian Deegan (Design Engineer at Urban Movement), Vanessa Eggleston (Partner at i-Transport) and Paul Smith (MD of Strategic Land Group and a person who rides a bike). Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford, @bricycle and @paul_slg. Vanessa is on LinkedIn. Some accompanying reading. The latest on the cycle lane at the end of Paul’s street. Manchester’s Cyclops Junction. https://news.tfgm.com/news/manchester-opens-uks-first-cyclops-junction The Urban Design Group’s survey on street design practice. http://www.udg.org.uk/content/street-design-uk-pilot-survey-2018 ‘The end of the rush hour?’ Vanessa’s blog. https://strategiclandgroup.co.uk/2020/06/09/the-end-of-the-rush-hour-guest-post-by-i-transport/ Robin Lovelace’s Rapid Cycleway Prioritisation Tool. The International Transport Forum’s Decarbonising Transport initiative. https://www.itf-oecd.org/decarbonising-transport Some accompanying listening. Crosstown Traffic by Jimi Hendrix | |||
| 03 Aug 2024 | Labour of Love | 01:44:41 | |
Sam Stafford has mentioned previously that the podcast would consider the new Government’s reform agenda and this is an attempt at doing so. The specifics of the NPPF consultation will be covered in more depth in due course, but what Listeners will hear in this jam-packed extravaganza of an episode is an exploration of that reform agenda in it’s broader sense. In anticipation of the NPPF, Sam invited some of the Shades alumni to discuss some of the policy areas of most interest to them and how the new Government could and should approach them. The voices that Listeners will hear belong to Vicky Payne, Hana Loftus, Ben Castell, Andrew Taylor, Pooja Agrawal, Claire Petricca-Riding, David Diggle, Nicola Gooch, Shelly Rouse, Gilan Macinnes, Ian Wray, Paul Smith, Mike Kiely, Simon Ricketts and Annie Gingell. Listeners will hear:
This episode only features parts of those eight conversations. Listen to the end to find out how and where to listen to all eight conversations in full in due course. Some accompanying reading. #PlanningReformDay 2024 - what just happened? https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/planningreformday-2024-what-just-happened Letter from Deputy Prime Minister and Defra Secretary of State to environmental NGOs on planning and infrastructure bill Pathways to Planning https://www.local.gov.uk/pathways-to-planning The Green Belt. What it is and why; what it isn't; and what it should be http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-green-belt-what-it-is-why-it-is.html Policy statement on new towns Letter from the Deputy Prime Minister to local leaders: the next steps to devolution Land value capture back in focus https://philipbarnesblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/12/land-value-capture-back-in-fashion/ Where next for the substandard method of assessing housing need? https://www.turley.co.uk/comment/housebuilding-assessment-targets-housing-stock-approach Some accompanying viewing. https://www.youtube.com/@FiftyShadesofPlanning Some accompanying listening. Labour of Love – Hue & Cry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CYZ6q7Wr9c 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. You can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shades Blog. Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 05 Jun 2021 | Some are more equal than others | 00:53:42 | |
What is town planning for? The Royal Town Planning Institute champions the ‘power of planning in creating prosperous places and vibrant communities’. The Town & Country Planning Association ‘works to challenge, inspire and support people to create healthy, sustainable and resilient places that are fair for everyone’. As Raymond Unwin wrote in the foreword to the Housing, Town Planning, Etc, Act of 1909: "Town Planning has a prosaic sound, but the words stand for a movement which has perhaps a more direct bearing on the life and happiness of great masses of the people than any other single movement of our time”. Who is town planning for? How are we to reconcile these lofty ambitions with the fact that black and other minorities are at least twice as likely to be deprived of green space compared to a white person in the UK; with the fact the average amount of money accrued by owning property over the last decade is £150,000 for the average white family and £0 for the average black family; and with the fact that whilst 3% of White households live in overcrowded accommodation, that figure rises to 22% for Black households, 23% for Indian households and 35% for Pakistani and Bangladeshi households. Does planning remain a progressive force for social justice or has it become a regressive tool for the preservation of the status quo? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Danny Dorling (@dannydorling), Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography and Fellow of St Peter's College at Oxford University; Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne), planner and urbanist at URBED; and Ben Southwood (@bswud), Head of Housing, Transport & Urban Space at Policy Exchange. Some accompanying reading. Covid spread as overcrowding doubles among private renters in England. 'Capital cities: How the planning system creates housing shortages and drives wealth inequality'. How London's property boom left Black Britons with nothing. One in three adults in Britain 'do not have a safe or secure home'. Resourcing Public Planning https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy/2019/november/resourcing-public-planning/ A housing design audit for England. http://placealliance.org.uk/research/national-housing-audit/ The cost of the cuts: The impact on local government and poorer communities. https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/Summary-Final.pdf All that is solid: How the great housing disaster defines our times and what we can do about it. http://www.dannydorling.org/books/allthatissolid/ Deciphering the fall and rise in the net capital share. https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/deciphering-the-fall-and-rise-in-the-net-capital-share/ Some accompanying listening. Fixer Upper by Yard Act https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJj3soqn-4 | |||
| 13 Dec 2019 | The 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz | 00:48:18 | |
Full of festive cheer (and sherry), Sam Stafford quizzes Greg Dickson, Paul Smith, David Diggle, Andrew Jalali, Vicky Payne and Tom Whitehead on some of the stories that have caught the eye in 2019. Expect an attempt at humour at the start, an appearance from a very special guest at the end and some bad cracker jokes in between... For those interested in the topics that are discussed there is some reading here: January Mr Brokenshire’s big intervention stick. http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2018/08/mr-brokenshires-big-intervention-stick.html February Portsmouth council plans to reclaim land from sea for homes. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-47142979 March The latest act in the GMSF play. http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-latest-installment-in-long-running.html MHCLG’s resourcing and skills survey. https://local.gov.uk/pas/pas-topics/monitoring/survey-planning-departments-2019 April In memory of the Englishman who kept a shark on his roof. May The National Audit Office’s investigation into the government’s land disposal strategy and programmes. https://www.nao.org.uk/report/investigation-into-the-governments-land-disposal-strategy/ June Juries for plan-making. July Record temperatures across Europe. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49108847 August The Towns Fund. September Robert Jenrick likes tree-lined streets. October The CPRE likes Green Belt. November Government confirms fracking moratorium and drops proposed permitted development rights. December How does your garden grow? | |||
| 09 Sep 2019 | The data day | 00:47:59 | |
Sam Stafford chats with Euan Mills of the Connected Places Catapult (https://futurecities.catapult.org.uk/) about how digital innovation, urban data, and user-centred design can improve the UK planning system. | |||
| 06 Aug 2022 | Housing people | 01:00:00 | |
Housing, 50 Shades listeners, will know, is slap bang in the middle of the intersection between planning and politics and nothing offers both the illustration and impact of this than affordable housing. Research commissioned by the National Housing Federation and Crisis from Professor Glen Bramley at Heriot-Watt University in 2018 identified a need for 340,000 homes each year in England to 2031, including 145,000 affordable homes. According though to recent research from Turley and Tetlow King, commissioned by the LPDF, it is estimated that only 35,500 net additional affordable homes have been delivered on average in each of the last ten years. Delivery is especially poor in the country’s largest urban centres. The largest 19, excluding London, have collectively added around 1,200 affordable homes per annum over the last ten years. Whether there is a housing crisis, or a challenge, or whether all of this is just a figment of the construction industry’s imagination, will depend upon whether you ask a single parent in emergency accommodation, a politician in electioneering mode or Simon Jenkins. What is indisputable however is that the planning system has a huge role to play in all of this. Why are we where we are? What are the obstacles to delivering more affordable housing and how might they be overcome? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Antony Pollard, Head of Economics at Turley; Annie Gingell, Principal Planner at Tetlow King; and Marie Chadwick, Policy Leader at the National Housing Federation. Some accompanying reading. Housing supply requirements: low-income households & homeless people An Affordable Housing Emergency https://www.lpdf.co.uk/latest-publications Five things we learned from Homes England’s Affordable Homes Programme data Simon Jenkins plumbs new depths of housing nonsense https://capx.co/simon-jenkins-plumbs-new-depths-of-housing-nonsense/ People in housing need 2021 https://www.housing.org.uk/resources/people-in-housing-need-2021/ The damaging legacy of Right to Buy https://neweconomics.org/2022/05/the-damaging-legacy-of-right-to-buy Notes from the Green Belt: what’s so very special about Colney Heath? https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/notes-from-the-green-belt-whats-so-very-special-about-colney-heath Some accompanying listening. A House Is Not A Home - The Charlatans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LljqVqRPiUI 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 11 Feb 2020 | How and where can and should more homes be built? | 01:05:40 | |
Sam Stafford chats with John Myers (YIMBY Alliance), Barbara Weiss (Barbara Weiss Architects) and Matt Thomson (CPRE) about how to build more and better homes and more and better places. Adding storeys, mansion blocks and other forms of gentle densification are agreeable in principle, but how can they be encouraged in practice? Do we build up in the meantime? Not everybody likes tall buildings. Do we build out in the meantime? Lots of people like the Green Belt... John Myers (@YimbyAlliance) worked as a lawyer, an analyst and in technology before cofounding London Yimby in 2016. https://yimbyalliance.org/about-us/ Matt Thomson (@MattThomson42) is Head of Planning at CPRE. Matt is a professional town planner with over 15 years’ experience in local government and was formerly head of policy and practice at the RTPI. https://www.cpre.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/meet-our-spokespeople/ Barbara Weiss founded Barbara Weiss Architects in 1987. Barbara has been involved in the Skyline Campaign that 'aims to stop the devastation of London by badly designed tall buildings in the wrong location'. http://www.barbaraweissarchitects.com/the-practice/people/barbara-weiss Some reading associated with this episode: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/building-better-building-beautiful-commission https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/jan/new-housing-design-england-overwhelmingly-mediocre-or-poor https://www.londonyimby.org/research Some listening associated with this episode: | |||
| 27 Feb 2021 | Neutral Impact | 00:59:47 | |
Eutrophication might not have been a word that planners came across too often before November 2018, but many now know if they didn’t before then that it is the process by which nutrient-laden water encourages algae growth to the extent that it starves water and sediments of oxygen, forms a barrier to birds feeding, smothers seagrass beds and saltmarshes. Until November 2018 it was largely the case that an Appropriate Assessment undertaken to accompany development proposals affecting nutrient-sensitive Special Protection Areas (SPAs) would conclude that any impacts could be mitigated against. That month, however, the European Court of Justice ruled in two joined cases relating to the EU Habitats Directive, which together are know as the ‘Dutch case’. Depending on your point of view, this judgement either significantly raised the assessment bar or provided welcome clarification on how the Directive should have been being interpreted anyway. Either way, subsequent advice from Natural England, at first in relation to the Solent SPA, recommended that LPAs in and around sensitive areas should withhold planning permission unless negative impacts of development can be ruled out completely. Eighteen months later the ramifications of the requirement for nitrogen and phosphorous neutrality are still being felt. What has the impact of this issue been? How far away is a satisfactory resolution in those parts of the country that have been affected? And, with change afoot for both the post-Brexit environmental assessment regime and the planning system more broadly, what lessons can be drawn for planning at the scale of a river catchment? Sam Stafford puts these questions to James Cording (Turley), Max Tant (Kent County Council), Graham Horton (Natural England) and Marian Cameron (Marian Cameron Consultants Ltd). Some accompanying reading. Version 5 of Natural England’s ‘Advice on Achieving Nutrient Neutrality for New Development in the Solent Region’. ‘Solent nitrogen neutrality: 18 months on, where are we now?’ by Turley. https://www.turley.co.uk/comment/solent-nitrogen-neutrality-18-months-where-are-we-now The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Nitrate Reduction Programme | |||
| 22 Apr 2020 | Green Belt, Sacred Cow | 00:55:54 | |
'I began to see what a sacred cow the Green Belt has become' said Minister for Housing & Local Government Richard Crossman in 1964. The Green Belt is a political behemoth that has long loomed over the planning system. In this episode Sam Stafford asks Paul Miner, Strategic Planning & Devolution at CPRE, and Kathryn Ventham, Planning Partner at Barton Willmore, whether housing need is becoming a sufficiently irresistible force to shift hitherto immovable Green Belt boundaries? Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford. @PaulMiner3 and @kateventham. Some accompanying reading and viewing: John Grindrod’s ‘Outskirts’ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/14/outskirts-by-john-grindrod-review Ipsos Mori polling for the CPRE on public attitudes towards the Green Belt https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/attitudes-towards-green-belt-land Ipsos Mori polling for Housing The Powerhouse on attitudes towards housing development in Greater Manchester 'The Green Noose: An analysis of Green Belts and proposals for reform' by the Adam Smith Institute ‘Planned up and be counted ‘ local plan making under NPPF 2012’ by Lichfields https://lichfields.uk/content/insights/planned-up-and-be-counted ‘This Blessed Plot – This Other Eden’ - A film for the Council for the Preservation of Rural England https://www.britishpathe.com/video/rural-england-aka-this-blessed-plot-this-other ‘The myth of the countryside idyll’ by Steve Middlehurst Keith Joseph’s 1964 South East Study http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/19/newsid_2570000/2570681.stm A Policy Briefing Paper by the Landscape Institute https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/policy/green-belt-policy/ The London Society’s Position Paper https://www.londonsociety.org.uk/post/londons-green-belt ‘The Proud City’ – A film outlining plans for the post war reconstruction of London, featuring Patrick Abercrombie and JH Forshaw. | |||
| 25 Aug 2020 | A conversation with Chris Findley | 01:02:39 | |
In a piece written during a recent period of furlough leave Sam Stafford posited that a career is like climbing a mountain in that the real reward is at the top when you can sit back, with the greatest possible perspective, and take it all in. Sam gets the chance to test that theory in this episode by chatting to Chris Findley who, as many North West-based 50 Shades listeners will know, recently retired after a 42 year career that included 26 years at Salford City Council. The conversation takes in Chris' early experiences in Beverley and Leicester, the seemingly endless rounds of planning reform and the transformation of Salford Quays. Some associated reading. Place North West's coverage of Chris' retirement https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/profile-findley-looks-back-on-26-years-at-salford/ Sam's blog on his career to date http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2020/04/memories-of-200809-career-advice-for-my.html | |||
| 01 Apr 2023 | No hope? | 00:55:31 | |
In June 2022 the Government consulted on proposals to abolish hope and development value when assessing compensation for land compulsorily purchased for certain kinds of schemes. Nine months after it closed, a response has yet to be published, but many CPO professionals made the point at the time that the proposals would be unfair and that there was no evidence that the risk of paying hope value compensation was deterring promoters from bringing forward CPOs. On 13 March 2023, however, the Government tabled amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords. One such amendment would allow “a minister confirming a compulsory purchase order to direct, in certain cases involving affordable housing, health or education, that compensation should be assessed on the basis that no new planning permission would be granted for the land”. It is known from last June’s consultation document that the Government view is that hope value can lead to “perverse outcomes” that “artificially inflate” compensation because the valuation assumes permission will be granted, even in cases where the likelihood of permission being granted may be relatively low. What though about the practical impacts of this change? Should the need for housing (and in particular affordable housing) trump the “equivalence” compensation principle? Will the risk of CPO on this basis spook the development sector such that the measures are in any event counter-productive? This episode is a recording of friend of the podcast Simon Ricketts’ Planning Law Unplanned Clubhouse discussion on this subject that took place on 23 March 2022 during which Simon put these questions to Raj Gupta, Jonathan Stott, Greg Dickson, Rebecca Clutten, Venus Galarza and David Baker. Some accompanying reading. The June 2022 CPO reform consultation The Compulsory Purchase Association's response to the 2022 reform consultation "LURB in the Lords - No Hope" (Raj’s Blog) Government amends Bill to allow councils to buy land for affordable housing at existing use value (£) The LURB Amendments https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3155/publications Some accompanying listening. This Land Is Your Land by My Morning Jacket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvTezD4XIU In Color by My Morning Jacket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2XzUYneUcc 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 28 Feb 2020 | The fast-paced, ever-changing, rock ‘n’ roll world of town planning | 00:52:20 | |
2020 looks set to be another significant year for planning policy. Already it has seen the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’s final report, ‘Living with beauty’, a report from Policy Exchange called ‘Rethinking the planning system for the 21st century’, and the Government’s First Homes consultation. Sam Stafford and his guests Tom Whitehead, Vicky Payne and David Diggle discuss their significance to the forthcoming Budget and White Paper, and this Government’s agenda more broadly. More information on the topics discussed in this episode can be found here: Living with beauty https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/building-better-building-beautiful-commission Rethinking the planning system for the 21st century’ https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/rethinking-the-planning-system-for-the-21st-century/ First Homes | |||
| 31 Dec 2022 | 🏆 The #Planaraks Awards 2022 🏆 | 00:57:04 | |
Even by the standards of the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning 2022 has been quite a year. Who better to review it, Sam Stafford thought, than Zack Simons, one of the most erudite, informed and entertaining thought leaders in the planning profession. Sam and Zack consider some of the year's important planning stories and, excitingly, Zack hands out his 2022 #Planarak Awards. A point of clarification. In discussing the controversial foreword to the Pre-Submission Spelthorne Local Plan, Sam suggested that it had not been removed from the Submission version. It actually has been. Some accompanying reading. The Levelling Up White Paper https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-the-united-kingdom Michael Gove scraps radical planning law following fierce Tory backlash New minister suggests tweaks to local housing need and five-year land supply requirements Turley’s neutrality update https://www.turley.co.uk/comment/nutrient-neutrality-march-2022-update-it-just-got-whole-lot-bigger Counting the cost of delay: The economic impact of Local Plan delay to housing delivery The LURB https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3155 Michael Gove: Britain needs beautiful homes and communities. That’s why I’ll clamp down on developers of soulless dormitories ‘New NPPF to come out next month, says Gove https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1789261/new-nppf-next-month-says-gove Council rips up local plan following Truss’s pledge to cut ‘Stalinist’ housing targets The Growth Plan https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/the-growth-plan Michael Gove’s Written Ministerial Statement https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-12-06/hcws415 The #Planoraks 2022 🏆 - worst planning reform of the year https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/-the-planoraks-2022-worst-planning-reform-of-the-year Council says its draft local plan will make area a ‘less attractive place to live’ due to brutal housing targets Sunak’s vow to stop housebuilding on green belt labelled as ‘desperate’ Boris Johnson pledges no homes will be built on green fields https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/10/06/boris-johnson-pledges-no-homes-green-fields/ Some accompanying listening Round and Round by New Order https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1tjQqWqqAA 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 15 Apr 2019 | Planning. Huh, Good God. What is it good for? | 00:43:37 | |
Sam Stafford and his guests Paul Smith, Greg Dickson and Vicky Payne consider recent reviews on the efficacy of the sector, as well as news stories that have been given national prominence, and ask ‘is planning working?’ | |||
| 17 Jul 2021 | Aging well in place | 00:58:44 | |
Hidden in the conclusions of the December 2020 Household Resilience Study (a Covid-specific follow-up to the English Housing Survey) was the striking statistic that 39% of households are under-occupied in that they have two or more spare bedrooms. It is easy to leap to the assumption, as indeed Sam Stafford admits to in this episode, that these households are elderly people, perhaps single elderly people, rattling around in family homes that they cannot bear to leave. From there it is also easy to assume that by encouraging people to downsize better use can be made of the existing housing stock. Why wouldn’t somebody want to move to a more manageable property or to a more sociable retirement community? It’s easy to paint a mental picture of ‘housing for older people’ without thinking too much more about it. Indeed, as Sam also admits, ‘housing for older people’ was the working title for this episode. This episode is about challenging those, and other, assumptions and preconceptions. Is the UK actually unique amongst our Western friends in not having a culture of downsizing? If we should is that for the state or the market to foster? Why is the development community not responding to an aging population with more bespoke accommodation and, if more could be encouraged, what should it look like and where should it be? Sam puts these questions to Silvia Gullino, Associate Professor in City Making at Birmingham City University; Graham Marshall, Director at ProSocial Place and Honorary Senior Fellow at Liverpool University; Rhiannon Corcoran, Professor of Psychology and Public Mental Health at Liverpool University; and Shannon Conway, Residential Director at Glenbrook Property. Twitter handles:
Some accompanying reading. Housing for older people - a report from the CLG Committee https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/370/370.pdf Homes for healthy ageing: Understanding the challenges - A Catapult Future of Housing blog https://cp.catapult.org.uk/news/housing-the-elderly-understanding-the-challenges/ Last Time Buyers - a report from L&G https://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/assets/portal/files/pdf_175.pdf Rightsizing: Reframing the housing offer for older people - a report based on research undertaken by PHASE at Manchester School of Architecture https://www.msa.ac.uk/media/msaacuk/documents/research/Rightsizing_MSA.pdf Guild Living wins planning appeal after ‘ageism’ row - Housing Today The ten key design criteria that make up the HAPPI principles from the Housing Learning and Improvement Network https://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/Design-building/HAPPI/ Some accompanying viewing The Sopranos - ‘Green Grove is a retirement community...’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1KfNAtgGM4 Some accompanying listening Older by Band of Horses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdIYUI21s8 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 31 Aug 2024 | Hitting the High Notes - Mike Best | 01:04:55 | |
In Hitting the High Notes episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that Listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode is Mike Best who many planners, especially in the West Midlands, will know from his twenty years at Turley. Their conversation was recorded at Birmingham Podcast Studios in July 2024 and takes in Mike's early career in Local Government at Rotherham and Coventry and his move into consultancy with Jones Lang Wootton as was. Taking in retail parks, racecourses and regeneration, the projects that Mike talks Sam through highlight the breadth of the planning profession. Some accompanying listening. Mike’s Spotify playlist Ignoreland – REM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03gauuHIgME A Design for Life – Manic Street Preachers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ Limelight – Rush https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgj2br-teu4 The Whole of the Moon – Waterboys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBW8Vnp8BzU Twice If You’re Lucky – Crowded House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcKh-VeFxX0 Inner City Life – Goldie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts Some accompanying reading Mike’s Blog https://mikesbestlaidplans.wordpress.com/ 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 17 Aug 2024 | To rebuild or to retrofit? | 00:50:41 | |
To rebuild or to retrofit? That is the question posed by former Secretary of State Michael Gove’s intervention in planning applications for the redevelopment of M&S’ Oxford Street store and the former Museum of London building. According to the Climate Change Committee, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from buildings account for 23% of the UK total. How can we create energy-efficient, carbon neutral and climate resilient new buildings and what is needed to accelerate the decarbonisation of existing buildings? The greenest building, so it is said, is the building that already exists and a ‘retrofit fit first, not retrofit only’ position appears to be emerging as the default, but this involves understanding which development options would have the lowest embodied carbon intensity and operational carbon emissions. Who is measuring what and how? Friend of the podcast Katie Wray kindly convened a group of experts in this field to tackle these questions in a conversation recorded online in April 2024. Katie, Director in Real Assets Advisory team at Deloitte, spoke to Iain Shaw, Mike Keaveney and Alex Edwards. Iain is a Director at Max Fordham, Mike is a Land & Development Director at Grainger; and Alex is ESG Director at Bruntwood SciTech. They talk about where the drivers for change in this area are coming from, how decisions around rebuild and retrofit are arrived at, and the concept of ‘value for carbon’. Some accompanying reading. Retrofit First: The City of London, Camden, now Westminster- who will be next? UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard Home | UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (nzcbuildings.co.uk) Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation Historic England Advice Note DRAFT Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation - draft for consultation (historicengland.org.uk) City of London Corporation’s heritage building retrofit toolkit https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/assets/Services-Environment/Heritage-Buildings-Retrofit-Toolkit.pdf Retrofit and Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings Manchester Climate Change Framework (see section on retrofit) MANCHESTER CLIMATE CHANGE FRAMEWORK(2020-25) | 2022 UPDATE (squarespace.com) Some accompanying listening. Build It Up, Tear It Down by Fatboy Slim https://youtu.be/bxHjytBY7Z8?si=k0dTMcz8CO8Im-bg 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. You can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shades Blog. Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 30 Apr 2022 | Leading from the front | 01:11:24 | |
‘Is there a local authority staffing crisis', Sam Stafford asked Catriona Riddell, Peter Geraghty and Paul Brocklehurst in Episode 60. That episode, regular listeners might recall, was informed by a 'Call for Evidence' and Sam invited people across the profession to share their thoughts on what life is actually like on planning’s front line. It quickly became apparent that Catriona, Peter, Paul and Sam would not be able to do the submissions justice in an hour-long conversation so Sam reproduced them in full on the 50 Shades Blog. To say that this topic struck something of a nerve is a bit of an understatement. The blog, at the time of this recording, has been viewed over 12,000 times. It does make for uncomfortable reading. Joey Gardiner described it in Planning magazine as a ‘veritable howl of despair’. “It portrays a system on the edge”, wrote Joey, “manned by staff crushed by overwork and pandemic isolation, and suffering regular abuse from the public and even members”. The position is not uniform across the country, of course, and there are, also of course, lots of good planners in good local authorities doing lots of good work. That being said, based upon that Call for Evidence, there is a very strong case to say that there is indeed a local authority staffing crisis. So then. What is to be done? Planners know that planning can and indeed should be at the heart of improving existing places and making great new ones. Why doesn’t everybody? Planners know the value of planning, but if local authority planners aren’t being valued, and aren’t being paid their worth, then who can blame them for doing something more rewarding? Sam explores these themes in this episode with Ben Woolnough, Rebecca Coley, Pooja Agrawal and Paul Frainer. Ben (@benhoward_w) is Planning Manager, East Suffolk Council; Rebecca (@PlanningGeek) is Head of Planning & Development at Trafford Council; Pooja (@AgrawalPooj) is CEO and co-founder at Public Practice; and Paul (@paulfrainer) is Head of Place/Climate Programme Lead at TPXimpact (latterly Assistant Director – Strategy & Economy at South Cambs and Cambridge City Councils). Some accompanying reading. The Life on the Front Line Blog http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/12/life-on-front-line.html The Design Code Pathfinder Programme https://www.gov.uk/government/news/communities-empowered-to-shape-design-of-neighbourhoods Local Government Terms & Conditions (Green Book) https://www.local.gov.uk/local-government-terms-and-conditions-green-book East Suffolk's GIS-based Annual Monitoring Report https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/dfbbb431cf6c44c88bc58975e59ce191 Some accompanying viewing. Public Practice in Greater Cambridge Some accompanying listening. Higher ground by Stevie Wonder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wZ3ZG_Wams 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 26 Sep 2019 | Planning Committees - Cauldrons of Human Emotion | 00:42:20 | |
If you’re involved they’re terrible, but if you’re just observing they’re terrific. In this episode Sam Stafford and his guests Katie Dean and Mike O’Brien discuss the cauldrons of human emotion that are planning committees. Some accompanying reading. A House of Commons Library Briefing https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01030 A Lichfields research paper https://lichfields.uk/content/insights/refused-for-good-reason PAS guidance on probity in planning for councillors and officers https://www.local.gov.uk/Pas-probity-planning Some accompanying listening. An objector singing at Reading’s planning committee (13 mins) https://channel.royalcast.com/readingboroughcouncil/#!/readingboroughcouncil/20160907_1 | |||
| 18 May 2024 | Love Thy Neighbourhood Plan | 00:59:32 | |
What are we to make of neighbourhood planning? Friend of the podcast Ben Castell considers it a “grassroots planning revolution”. Perhaps less favourably it conjures for others images of corduroy and tweed-clad councillors convening a parish council working group to thwart plans for an incinerator or, worse still, new housing. With neighbourhood planning now part of the furniture, but with the current opposition and possible next Government talking about ‘taking planning up a level’, Sam Stafford thought it time for the podcast to evaluate the story of neighbouring planning so far, which is lead in this episode by the afore-mentioned Ben Castell. Ben is Planning Director at AECOM, where he has worked with a number of neighbourhood planning groups, and has also had two stints as Chair of his local Neighbourhood Forum. Ben convened a group of planners with nuts-and-bolts experience in this field for a conversation recorded online in April 2024. Samantha Banks is the Neighbourhood Planning Programme Manager at Locality, which has provided the government’s Neighbourhood Planning Support Programme since 2013. Samantha previously worked as the Neighbourhood Planning Manager at Herefordshire Council, leading a team that supported over 100 town and parish councils produce neighbourhood plans. Graeme Markland has been the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer at Thame Town Council since 2016 and before that was a technical and planning officer at Luton Borough Council and the Luton and South Bedfordshire Joint Technical Unit. Leani Haim is a Planning Director at ONH, which provides planning and development services to town and parish councils, neighbourhood forums, landowners and developers. ONH has supported over 200 neighbourhood plan projects. Now it is fair to say that Ben, Samantha, Graeme and Leani are all neighbourhood planning enthusiasts and for balance, in addressing the question as to how successful the enterprise has been, a more sceptical voice was required. About two thirds of the way through then Listeners will hear from another friend of the podcast, Simon Ricketts, who fits that bill and who kindly recorded his thoughts in advance so that Ben, Samantha, Graeme and Leani could mull them over in the final section of the episode. Some accompanying reading. Independent research on the impacts of neighbourhood planning Neighbourhood planning in England: A decade of institutional learning https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900623000107#bib169 Locality’s Key Neighbourhood Planning Data https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/key-neighbourhood-planning-data/ Locality’s Toolkits and Guidance https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/ Neighbourhood planning areas https://communities.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d195c3134caa46b5a638ad0c4f0cce77 Planning Practice Guidance https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neighbourhood-planning--2 Some accompanying listening You Woke Up My Neighbourhood – Billy Bragg (Ben’s choice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnHxAxaara0 Who’s In Control? – Sea Power (Sam's choice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Lf0IiEZt8 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 12 Mar 2021 | EA in the UK after the EU | 00:56:18 | |
As a 50 Shades of Planning Podcast listener you will be perceptive enough to have spotted that the United Kingdom has left the European Union. Town Planners will have noted in so doing that the regulatory regime for the assessment of environmental impact within the UK’s planning processes has been at least heavily influenced by, and at most grown to mirror, the rules, regulations and judgements emanating from and handed down in Brussells and Strasbourg. Environmental Assessment is on the Government’s ‘to do list’, though perhaps not very near the top. Environment Minister George Eustice said in July 2020 that a new consultation on changing our approach to environmental assessment and mitigation in the planning system would be launched that Autumn. It wasn’t, but when it does appear what will it herald for EA in the UK after the EU? Is Brexit a welcome opportunity to reset EA on to a more proportionate footing? Is Brexit an unwelcome threat to a well-established regulatory regime that could be exploited through gaps in an ever-evolving planning process? Might Brexit actually be both? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Janice Morphet (Visiting Professor at UCL), Simon Ricketts (Partner at Town Legal LLP) and Lucy Wood (Director in the National Infrastructure & Environmental Planning Team at Barton Willmore). Simon is on Twitter at @sricketts1 and Janice is @janicemorphet. Lucy wisely steers clear. Some accompanying reading. George Eustace’s speech on environmental recovery (July 2020). https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/george-eustice-speech-on-environmental-recovery-20-july-2020 ‘Environmental Impact Assessment fit for the 21st Century’ by William Nicolle and Benedict McAleenan. https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Planning-Anew.pdf ‘Brexit & Planning’ by Simon. https://simonicity.com/2020/12/27/brexit-planning-an-update/ Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals by the Public Accounts Committee. ‘Since I Left EU – The Future of Environmental Assessment’, a Town Legal Webinar. Some accompanying listening. 'Frogs, Toads and Newts' by Frits Wentink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJHCRDvlEos | |||
| 01 Jun 2024 | Neutral Impact III (and a bit of Green Belt) | 00:58:06 | |
When Sam Stafford first covered nutrient neutrality, in February 2021, he described the process of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself: a little niche, but very important. When Sam published a second episode in September 2022 it had grown in importance to the extent that Prime Minister Liz Truss had pledged to "scrap nutrient neutrality rules". A Government press release issued in August 2023 stated that “through an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB), the Government will do away with this red tape and allow for the delivery of more than 100,000 new homes desperately needed by local communities."” The LURB amendments in question were subsequently defeated, nutrient neutrality rules have not been scrapped, and 2 June 2024 marks the fifth anniversary of Natural England’s first advice note for LPAs in the Solent Region. The question that Sam posed in that second Shades episode remains just as pertinent: how far away is a satisfactory resolution in those parts of the country that have been affected? In order to provide an updated answer to that question Sam invited old friend of the podcast Rachel Jones and new friends of the podcast Andrew Smith and Gemma Nelmes to share their experiences. Rachel is Ecology Manager at Wiltshire Council; Andrew is Head of Development Management at the Lake District National Park Authority; and Gemma is an Associate at Stantec. Eagle-eyed Listeners may have spotted that the title of this episode is Neutral Impact III (and a bit of Green Belt). Sam has very kindly been invited by Richard Kimblin at No. 5 Chambers and Sarah Young at LUC to contribute to a Green Belt Summit that they are holding on Wednesday 3 July. It is in London, but will be available to view online as well. The three of them had a brief preparatory chat last recently about the spur for the summit and the hopes for it. That chat features in the final section of the episode. Some accompanying reading. 100,000 more homes to be built via reform of defective EU laws Natural England and Dorset Wildlife Trust buy Lyscombe farm https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/24310589.natural-england-dorset-wildlife-trust-buy-lyscombe-farm/ Claims that developers are responsible for water pollution are a load of poo https://capx.co/claims-that-developers-are-responsible-for-water-pollution-are-a-load-of-poo/ Is the Government backtracking on environmental protection? https://capx.co/is-the-government-backtracking-on-environmental-protection/ PAS Nutrient Neutrality Programme https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/topics/environment/nutrient-neutrality-and-planning-system Natural England Framework for Wetland Mitigation Proposals https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/6543a2f8de0348f683187ff268a79687?item=4 Information on Nature Based Solutions as Nutrient Mitigation https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6680815300509696 Natural England’s nutrient mitigation scheme for developers CIRIA publishes new guidance on SuDS construction https://www.ciria.org/CIRIA/News/CIRIA_news2/CIRIA_publishes_new_guidance_on_SuDS_construction.aspx Green Belt Summit Details https://www.no5.com/2024/05/greenbelt-summit/ Fields in Trust England’s nature chief calls for building on green belt to solve housing crisis The Green Belt. What it is and why; what it isn't; and what it should be http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-green-belt-what-it-is-why-it-is.html | |||
| 28 Jul 2020 | DCOs, NPSs & NSIPs | 00:51:39 | |
Will the Government's much vaunted radical reforms to the planning system allow Development Consent Orders (DCOs) to apply to large-scale, residential-led development proposals? It is an idea that has been around since DCOs, as wells as NPSs and NSIPs, were introduced by the Planning Act 2008, but perhaps now it’s time has come. As well as considering the efficacy of the DCO regime as it relates to infrastructure projects, an expanded DCO regime is considered in a report by Barton Willmore, Copper, Womble Bond Dickinson and Hannah Hickman. Sam Stafford discusses the report (link below) in this episode with co-authors Tom Carpen (Barton Willmore), Kevin Gibbs (Womble Bond Dickinson) and Hannah Hickman (Hannah Hickman Consulting). LinkedIn profiles: Tom - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-carpen-7102578b/ Kevin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-gibbs-24a39734/ Hannah - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahhickman1/ Some accompanying reading. ‘Can development consent orders help meet the challenges of our time?' by Barton Willmore, Copper, Womble Bond Dickinson and Hannah Hickman: 'Housing - Nationally Significant Infrastructure?' commissioned by Bond Dickinson and Quod: https://www.quod.com/news/housing-crisis-demands-central-government-intervention/ 'Unlocking Britain' by the Social Market Foundation: 'Following Orders: five actions necessary for DCOs and the NSIP regime to be used for large-scale housing' by Lichfields: 'The New Towns Question (Again)' by Simon Ricketts: https://simonicity.com/2020/07/11/the-new-towns-question-again/ Some accompanying viewing. The best of Jerry Springer's Final Thoughts: | |||
| 03 Jul 2021 | The Bin Lorry Effect | 00:55:52 | |
‘Well-intentioned highways department rules and guidance have had a devastating effect on new housing developments over the past 80 years. Many have led to roads not streets, units not homes, and ‘could-be-anywhere’ housing developments, not real places with centres and edges. A range of rules have the effect of stopping you getting out and about, preventing you meeting your neighbours, stopping you from creating communities and locking you into car dependence.’ That is a quote from the introduction to ‘The Bin Lorry Effect’, a briefing paper from Create Streets (see link below) about how 'new homes and places are ruined by highways regulations and how we can fight back'. Can we, as planners, look at the schemes that we are involved with and confidently say that we would want to live on that road? Are we creating places that are accessible for people aged 8 to 80? Are we submitting and approving applications that follow desire lines for pedestrians and cyclists? Are we supporting a 21st Century user hierarchy that places pedestrians and cyclists at the top, private motor vehicles at the bottom, and public transport in the middle? If not, why not? Sam Stafford puts these questions to David Milner, Deputy Director at Create Streets; Anna Parsons, Associate Design Director at Catesby Estates; and Alexis Edwards, Transport Development Team Leader at BCP Council. David and Alexis are on Twitter at @djjmiler and @MrAlexisEdwards. Anna is not on Twitter. Some accompanying reading. 'The Bin Lorry Effect' by Create Streets https://www.createstreets.com/projects/the-bin-lorry-effect-11th-january/ Traffic in Towns – The Buchanan Report https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/udlibrary/traffic-towns-buchanan-report ‘What’s wrong with modelling the ‘worst case’?’ by Rachel Aldred. http://rachelaldred.org/writing/consultations/whats-wrong-with-modelling-the-worst-case/ ‘What is the status of Manual for Streets?’ by Andrew Lainton https://andrewlainton.wordpress.com/2021/01/31/what-is-the-status-of-manual-for-streets/ Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2): 2020 to 2025 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-investment-strategy-2-ris2-2020-to-2025 Traffic signs manual https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual 'Transport appraisal: a pathway to poor decision making?' by Andy Cope of Sustrans Some accompanying listening. Less Than Useful by Ned's Atomic Dustbin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYqfB44lEF0 Some accompanying viewing. 'How bins should be collected', by H.J Simpson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwzV9SlNOTM 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 07 Sep 2024 | The Masterplan | 00:55:56 | |
If you have listened to episodes 125 and 128 you will know Sam Stafford sought to cover, pre-publication, what could and should be in the new version of NPPF. With the consultation deadline now starting to loom large, this episode seeks to cover what is actually in it. Sam was in London earlier this week and caught up with friends of the podcast Andrew Taylor, Hashi Mohamed, Vicky Payne and Simon Ricketts at Soho Radio Studios. They will need no introduction to regular listeners, but for new listeners, Andrew is Group Planning Director at Vistry, Hashi is a Barrister at Landmark Chambers; Vicky is an Associate at Jas Bhalla Works and an Independent Consultant; and Simon is a Partner at Town Legal. As you will hear over the next 45 minutes or so they crammed in as much as possible. They talked about the proposed new stock-based standard method and transitional arrangements for local plans, they talked about Grey Belt, 50% affordable housing and benchmark land values; and they touched on beauty, design codes, vision-led transport planning, the flood risk sequential test, neighbourhood plans, safeguarded land, and application fees. Some accompanying reading. Lichfields’ NPPF resource https://lichfields.uk/proposed-reforms-to-the-nppf-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system?email Simon’s blog https://simonicity.com/2024/08/02/50-shades-of-grey-belt/ Zack Simons' blog https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/planningreformday-2024-what-just-happened Vicky on Design https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2024/08/01/more-substance-style-new-nppfs-design-outlook Philip Barnes on BLV Create Streets - Stepping off the Road to Nowhere https://www.createstreets.com/projects/stepping-off-the-road-to-nowhere/ Some accompanying listening. The Masterplan - Oasis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPPi2D6GK7A Some accompanying viewing. Alam Partridge’s big plate https://youtu.be/swJFOE49LRQ?si=bmR85Y7USmizHBef 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||
| 09 Apr 2022 | Hitting the High Notes - Pete Swift | 01:00:38 | |
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission or project Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period of their career. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening to this episode, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Pete Swift. After graduating in Landscape Design & Plant Science at Sheffield University, and spending some time in Japan, Pete (@peteswifysan) co-founded landscape and design practice Planit. Their conversation takes in the Liverpool International Garden Festival, Michael Douglas in Black Rain and Tom Hicks and George Gillett's tenure at Anfield. Pete's song selections. Absolute - Scritti Politti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Mk_JgesEM Can’t be sure - The Sundays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yARVs1ZNLjU Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYIAfiVGluk Silver (Tidal Wave) - Echo and the Bunnymen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmYB8VejrC8 The System only Dreams in Total Darkness - The National https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O6duDDkhis Pete's Spotify playlist Some accompanying reading Planit https://www.planit-ie.com/our-projects/ Festival gardens: The fascinating and controversial history behind one of Liverpool's beauty spots https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/story-festival-gardens-wasteland-international-17133347 Why is there a Japanese Kyoto Garden in Holland Park? https://londonist.com/london/great-outdoors/why-is-there-a-japanese-kyoto-garden-in-holland-park Liverpool Waters https://liverpoolwaters.co.uk/ What’s planned for Manchester Town Hall and Albert Square 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html | |||
| 12 Apr 2025 | If I Ruled the World | 00:59:50 | |
Sam Stafford was down in The Big Smoke recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Matthew Spry, Simon Ricketts, Hana Loftus, Vicky Payne and Mike Kiely. In a good ol’ fashioned Adam Buxton-style ramblechat they talked about anything and everything. They talked about stat cons; they talked about skills, resources and leadership within LPAs; they talked about the need for efficiency gains in development management to deal with the expected uptick in planning applications; they talked application fees; they talked about power lines; they talked about a national scheme of delegation; they talked about NPSs, SDSs, local plans and NDMPs; and then they talked about a national scheme of delegation again. There is something in here for everybody. Some accompanying reading. Reeves to put £2bn into affordable housing to ‘sweeten the pill’ of cuts Bureaucratic burden lifted to speed up building in growth agenda Planning Fees – All Power to Local Authorities? People living near new pylons in Great Britain could get £250 a year off energy bills On modernising planning committees Assistance Required: 'The Snagging List' Some accompanying listening. Nas ft. Lauryn Hill - If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Any other business. Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter. | |||